It Shall Be Given You...What Ye Shall Say

Dear Family, So many miracles and wonderful blessings happened this week. I will give you a run through of the schedule and then share some experiences. Monday: At night we met in the Bishop's home with his counselors and our Ward Mission Leader. We presented our plan to him to teach all the members of the ward and he loved it! It could not have gone better. Tuesday: We had our first Zone Conference and then went to our Stake President's home with 3 zone leaders in the stake and the high counselor over missionary work and presented a plan for the stake based on the revelation received from President Ashton and our Mission Leadership Council. That meeting went extremely well and Presidente Portillo is 100% on board. Wednesday: Another Zone Conference and then we taught the Bishop and his family in their home. Elder Johnson and I taught together for the first time. We taught the Restoration. It was the most powerful Restoration lesson I have ever been present for. Thursday: Zone Conference back in Clear Lake (my English area). I got to see all the youth I used to serve around. After the conference we were running around doing housing things for the mission. During the conference Elder Johnson and I felt prompted to demonstrate teaching the Atonement for the missionaries. We had not done this in the prior conferences and the Spirit came so strongly. Friday: The final Zone Conference, we taught the Atonement again and then taught our second counselor and his less-active family the Plan of Salvation. After that we went to teach one of Elder Johnson's investigators being led there by the Spirit. Now that I think about it, it was just like Nephi. We were led by the Spirit not knowing beforehand what we should do. We just showed up and asked why Heavenly Father wanted us there. Then had the most powerful lesson of my entire mission. 30 Seconds into the lesson, the Holy Ghost came, and He stayed the entire duration. For one solid hour I felt the Spirit constantly. I have never born testimony so boldly or powerfully. At the very very end, I looked into this young man's eyes and told him the things I know to be true. I could see in his eyes that his soul was touched profoundly. It was amazing. Saturday: We didn't have anything planned so we prayed, changed into our service clothes, serve the members of the ward, and found a new investigator and taught 2 lessons. I love that God answers prayers. Sunday: At church, a missionary homecoming talk. He trained one of my good friends in California. we went to eat with a member and they had invited our investigators. We taught about the Priesthood and gave back to school blessings. We then went to a meeting with the Stake President, all the Bishops, and all the Ward Mission Leaders. The Stake President presented our plan literally word for word. It was so great. The work is moving forward! I know this Gospel is true. We are working with ward and stakes just likes we have been asked to do. As we have worked under the keys of the Priesthood, a new power has entered into the work. I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers. Elder Case

Members & Conversion

On the left is Elder Jarvis (my new companion). He is a visa waiter going to Brazil but this is his 4th transfer and we are trying to get him reassigned to our mission so we thought we would have him become a Spanish rather than English missionary. Great elder. He is from Orem, UT.

Dear Family,

 

Not much has happened since Saturday night but thank you for your prayers. The Ward Council accepted our plan to teach the members and are rather enthused about the idea. We are meeting with them tonight to work out the details. 

 

Last night we visited a less-active couple, watched a video from the missionary broadcast with them and invited them to participate in our mission-wide fast to have missionary opportunities in the month of September. They felt the Spirit, agreed to fast with us (for the first time in 10 years), and then proceeded to call their friends while we were still there telling them that the missionaries were going to stop by. The wife committed to invite a close friend to their home this Friday so we can stop by and give the friend's sick son a Priesthood blessing. It is amazing to see the Spirit work in people's lives.

 

This couple also said that they would be fasting so that the wife could find a new job and not work on Sunday so they can start coming to church and preparing to go to the temple. I know that this Gospel is true and that it changes people.

 

Last night we also visited another member that is semi-active. She has 2 daughters, a 14 and 15-year old. One is a member and the other is not. We brought the Young Women's President with us and had a wonderful Restoration lesson and invited them both to pray to know if what we had shared is true. It made me think about how important that is. There is a line in the missionary version of the Joseph Smith movie where Lucy Mack Smith says, "You must ask God that knowledge that man cannot give, nor take away" (something like that). I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that I can testify to all that I have asked, that I continue to ask, and I will always ask if Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that the answer will always be, "Yes!" I know the Gospel is true. 

 

I love you all. We have Zone Conferences starting tomorrow for the rest of the week. That will be busy but fun. Please pray that they will go well and that the missionaries will learn through the Holy Ghost.

 

Love,

Elder Case

Smart Phones, Desires, Testimonies and Softening the Hearts

Dear Family,

 

Sorry I am emailing so late in the week and so late at night. It was transfer week and we were busy. It went extremely well other than Salt Lake cancelling one of the elders return flights and him not being able to check in (I had the fun assignment of calling church travel and working that one out and then calling his family), there were three different arriving groups (visa waiters, Provo MTC, and Mexico MTC) and two of the planes were late, and all the departing missionaries flying back to Utah got to talking during their lay over in Phoenix and missed their flights (we almost just sent them all to stay at our house with mom, dad and Bex).

 

After so much time of constant going and lack of sleep, President Ashton and Elder Nilsen (our Housing Coordinator and President Ashton's good friend) took us golfing Thursday afternoon to relax. I learned that golf is not how I relax. It was fun though and we decided to make it a day after transfer tradition.

 

On Friday, we had Mission Leadership Council all day. That was best missionary meeting I have been to in the field. The Spirit taught me and testified and comforted and I left know what I needed to do and who I need to be. President Ashton on December 24, 2012 told the mission that he had received revelation that it is God's will that we baptize 1,000 people in the year 2013. By the end of August we will be at 300. That gives us 20 weeks to baptize 700 people. We are doing a mission wide fast (all members and missionaries) on September 1st in order to make this happen. The revelation I received during the meeting was what my part is in accomplishing the Lord's will.

 

Missionary work here is incredibly different than six months ago. Instead of us doing the missionary work and letting the members save the members, we now try to save the members and put them in charge of missionary work. As you can imagine there are some major changes to work out with that, but the results have been quite interesting. We rolled out a plan with Hermano Perez (the Ward Mission Leader) to teach every single family in our ward all the missionary discussions in their homes by the end of the year. We will start with the bishopric and then work through the Ward Council and on down the line. As we have been teaching members, it has been shocking to see how many members don't pay tithing, don't read the scriptures, don't fully keep the Word of Wisdom, and overall just aren't converted. We are presenting the plan to the Ward Council in the morning and then having a Noche de Hogar with the bishopric on Monday. Please pray that the Spirit will be there and that they will understand the vision of missionary work in these the last days.

 

The idea behind this plan is that instead of having 2-6 missionaries in charge of finding, teaching, and baptizing in a ward that has thousands of non-members living in the boundaries, we are going to go teach and strengthen 300 members and have them do all the work for us. The miracles that we have seen already are powerful.

 

So we aren't really teaching investigators right now. But have been teaching and testifying of Family History, the Atonement, and repentance to those who are struggling to keep their baptismal covenants. Tonight we went to go teach a family where the kids (all teenagers and one returned missionary) are active but the mom works most Sunday's and the dad refuses to go.

 

The kids weren't home and when we got there the mom was on the phone the whole time. The dad has one of the hardest hearts I have encountered on my mission and he generally screams and argues and fights during the lessons saying that he can't change and so on and so on. Tonight began about the same as always but after letting him talk for 15 minutes, we asked if we could say a prayer. I offered the prayer and prayed for every single thing their family needed. As a side note, I have found that that does wonders to change people's attitude towards me. After the prayer, it was silent for almost a full minute. I then looked at the hermano and bore my testimony. The Spirit came and after months of meeting with him, his heart was touched. The lesson was so different! He was calm, he stopped lying to us about being tricked into being baptized and told us that he had been really active in the church and had loved the church when we was living in Mesa. He told us his real problem and we scheduled an appointment with the Bishop for next week.

 

It was an incredible experience to be able to be used in the Lord's hands convey the Holy Ghost to one of Heavenly Father's sons.

 

We have been talking about desires a lot recently and I just want to desire God's will. There is nothing more rewarding or worthwhile in the world. 

 

Elder Johnson and I have smart phones. We still have no idea when we as a mission will get the new rollout of Facebook and tablets and smart phones, but we asked the right questions and now have smart phones with the LDS Gospel Library. That makes studies very effective. 

 

So much more to say, but it is late and we are going to bed.

 

I love you all and could not be more grateful for my family. Thank you for all the emails this week.

 

Love, 

 

Elder Case

Turning the Hearts to the Fathers and the Children

Dear Family,

This has been another wonderful week full of Gospel learning and being taught by the Spirit. Last night we went to one of my favorite families in my area. It is the Navarro family. They all reactivated (except the father) in February before I got here and now are one of the most solid families in the ward. We taught them about Family History about a month ago and when we did it with them they found a name and had it ready to bring to the temple. Last night when we stop by at 7:00 PM the all looked blurry eyed and proudly told us that as a family they had been working on family history since they got home from church at 3:00 PM. I was shocked. We haven't even talked with them since the first day we did it, but the Spirit of Elijah began working with them and their hearts have begun to be turned. It is pretty incredible.

They now have four names ready to take to the temple, three of which are male. They told me that they haven't been able to find someone yet who they trust enough to go to the temple and asked if I would do it and then come back and report to them the feelings and experiences I have. This will work wonderfully because I am going to the temple with the Colons in two weeks to do baptisms for the dead with them for the first time. They also will be bringing their own family names. What an honor and privilege we have as members of the church to go to the temples. As a missionary, the temple has come to mean much more because it represents the garners that the scriptures speak of. So after people are harvested (baptized) we then have to do all in our power to gather them in the garners (the temples) in order for them to have a real chance at staying active in the Gospel. That is the key.

Other that that, I read a talk this week entitled "The Divine Companionship" by Elder Holland. It really touched me. He talks about having a divine companionship in which we all get along with our companions but he talks even more about allowing the Spirit to be the senior companion in our companionship. That is the part that got me. I decided I was going to make a more concerted effort to invite, recognize and then follow the quiet promptings of the Spirit. It has been an incredible week because of that. As I have prayed and studied or taught and testified, their has been a difference. A new power and love and fervor has entered into my soul. 

I hope you all feel these same feelings. Continuing revelation is real. It comes all the time as we ask, seek and knock. Thank you for your prayers. I often think about how many people there are praying for me and my success. It makes it feel nearly impossible to ever doubt or lack the faith to see the miracle.

I love you and apologize for the short email. we are going to the alligator park again today.

Elder Case