12/26/16 | Christmas!

 It was so good to talk to you guys yesterday!  I loved every second of it!  Having this be my first Christmas away from home was super weird, but it turned out to be awesome.  Sorry Fam, you've heard most of this from yesterday, but I've got to fill everyone else in.... haha. This week was pretty slow because more than half of Laramie is gone for Christmas Break...... we tried to stay as busy as possible though!  We used FaceTime and Skype in three of lessons we had this week, and they were super effective!  One of the people we called really needed it.  Her mom, dad, and her are recent converts.  I guess her mom has been going through a hard time, and some members in the ward her doubt what she believed in, and her mom was saying she wanted to remove her records from the church.  We were able to talk to the daughter and let her know she can help!  We suggested a few things to help her mom regain her solid testimony.  We are praying that it will help her mom!

       We had some solid lessons teaching Ugo the new member lessons.  His testimony just keeps getting stronger and stronger!  He is probably going to leave the U.S on the 25th of January.  It's too bad because he can't get a student loan because of citizenship stuff...... but he will have missionary opportunities back in Nigeria for sure!  He will be such a strength for the church there! He said that if I ever am in Nigeria, I'll have a place to stay.  He's such a good friend, I love him!

       Transfers are tomorrow, and I'm training a brand new missionary!  I can't wait to be training in Greeley, Colorado!  I'm going to have to trust in Heavenly Father to help me become the best trainer for this new missionary as I can possibly be!  I'm so excited to have this opportunity so early in my mission!  I'm a little nervous, but I know that God will help me in all I do. I just heard I'm meeting him at the mission office at around 3:00 tomorrow, and I can't wait to see what he's like!  Man, I can't wait.  

        Christmas Eve was almost as incredible as Christmas was! Grant Asay had us over for dinner with his family!  They are incredible, I felt like I was at home with them.  We had so many different kinds of meats, and yummy snacks, it was so awesome!  They gave us three presents each.  Some heavy duty gloves, a tie, and a homemade pen with wood from Adam-ondi-ahman!  We read the Nativity Story, and sang a lot of hymns!  I felt like I was at home, and I loved it.  They are such a solid family.  

          My highlight this week, and for Christmas was FaceTiming you guys!  It was so nice to see all of my biggest supporters in the same room.  Thanks for being such a fantastic family, I couldn't be where I am today without you guys, and I love you all so much! 

          For Christmas dinner, we ate with Christa Avery and her family.  We played some scrabble, had amazing food, and they were such a nice family!  Both dinners made being away from home not as hard.  

         After our Christmas Dinner, we went Caroling! We stopped by some families that we thought would need some Christmas Cheer.  It was awesome! I got permission from President McMurray to call one of my best friends from the MTC who is serving in the Gilbert Arizona Mission.  His family situation was horrible, so I thought he would need some true support from his friend.  It was awesome catching up with him.  One part really hit me during the call, near the end, Elder Whittaker said something that was so cool.  He said "You know Elder Bailey, this has really made my Christmas, thanks so much!"  I was so happy that I decided to ask if I could call him, even if it just brightened his day a little bit.  

        Well, I'm leaving Wyoming tomorrow!  I can't wait to serve in Colorado for the first time, and to train a brand new missionary!  I hope all of your Christmas's were as awesome as mine!  I love you all so much, thanks for the support.  

Love,

Elder Bailey

1. Christmas Card 2016, ball is life haha

2. Saying bye to Ugo! 

12/19/16 | Ugo's Baptism!

         This week was so amazing!  We had so many blessings this week.  I was on exchanges with Elder Miner and Elder Ricks Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, most of Friday, and a little of Saturday.  So most of my week was spent in other missionaries areas.  A couple of lessons stood out to me.  We had a lesson with this woman who lives in West Laramie.  Her story really touched me.  She has moved 21 time in 15 years, and thinks she's finally found her safe spot here in Laramie.  When we asked her about why she thinks reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church is essential, she said she has been wanting to come back for years.  We asked her if she would come to church this week, she started to cry and said she's been waiting for someone to ask and help her make it to church.  I thought that was a pretty sweet manifestation of how the Spirit can work in lessons we teach! 

         Turns out I wasn't allowed to go to that leadership meeting.  I guess President forgot I was still technically being trained because this is my second transfer, anyways, the AP's called and said I couldn't come....... I was a bit sad about that, but it all worked out!  The next day on Friday, President called us and told us Elder Ricks mission call extension was at the mission home.  He said we needed to be there at 5:00 sharp.  Elder Allen and I drove him down that afternoon, we kind of saw some pretty mean looking storm clouds coming in from the West but didn't think much of it.  We got to Presidents house and Elder Ricks (he's a two-transfer missionary who was getting his full-time call) was able to FaceTime his parents when he opened his call.  He's staying in our mission! I was pretty excited for him, he's a good missionary.  While we were at Presidents home I got to meet two of Presidents sons, Spencer and Daniel.  They are so awesome and they're both hilarious, just like Randon!  I felt like I was chilling with my family, which was really nice.  President wouldn't let us leave hungry, so he took us to Arby's!  During dinner, President filled me in on all the things they discussed and are going to implement in our mission from the meeting that I missed.  That made me happier about not being able to go.  

           As we were leaving, it started snowing kind of bad.  We were headed up to Cheyenne and it hit, super bad.  It was a complete white put of I-25!  Some parts you couldn't even see the road, we could just see tail lights 30 yards in front of us.  It was honestly the sketchiest free-way experience I've ever had.  This was one of the miracles this week, that we made it safely to Cheyenne!  We called the ZL's in Cheyenne and we stayed there that night.  This storm was incredible!  Only about three inches stuck and the rest of it was blown away by the 40 mile an hour winds.  

           The next morning we were scared that we would miss Ugo's Baptism because all the mission vehicles were grounded. I was praying so hard that our vehicle coordinator would clear us to drive back, and my prayers were answered at 9:30!  We drove back to Laramie safely and made it to Ugo's Baptism!  Ugo's Baptism was awesome, the Spirit was definitely present.  I was one of the Witnesses with Elder Clemence, and Ugo wanted Bishop Williams to Baptize him.  The water heater at the Stake Center is broken, which made the water frigid, but everything went perfectly!  My favorite part about Ugo's Baptism was his testimony at the end.  When he bore testimony, I could feel the Spirit so strongly.  He said that he had no idea that he could have a family here in Laramie, but he knows he does now.  When he pointed at us and said "if it weren't for my guys, I wouldn't be here!"  That touched my heart so deeply.  The feeling you get when you have taught someone every lesson, and to see them get Baptized is indescribable. Ugo got confirmed on Sunday, and still doesn't have any church clothes.... He wore his "ya'll just need Jesus" sweatshirt!  After he got confirmed and we sat down, he couldn't stop telling us how good he felt.  I know that he will be blessed for having the companionship of the Holy Ghost with him always.  I love Ugo so much!

          I hope you all are a little warmer than up here in Laramie!  I love you all so much, and I can't wait to FaceTime you guys next Sunday!  So crazy!  Having Christmas be on a Sunday couldn't be more appropriate.  This Christmas, truly focus on how the Savior blessed our lives by being born and how he has given us the Atonement so we may live with our Heavenly Father again when we pass on.  Hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Bailey 

12/12/16 | Laramie is so cold....

Hey Fam!

        It has been such a fantastic week, I don't even know where to start!  A little update on Ugo, we taught him five times last week!  He honestly understands the Gospel and the scriptures better than anyone I've ever met.  Between lessons we have been having him read two chapters in The Book of Mormon, and he can literally summarize both chapters perfectly!  He told us that when he reads textbooks he gives 80-100%, but when he reads the scriptures he give 100-120%, which is absolutely incredible!  He is loving everything about our Church so far, especially when we told him about Family Home Evening.  When we mentioned it Ugo said that he knew that the way Family Home Evening and how the whole church is organized could only be from God himself.  I feel like he already has a testimony of stuff before we teach him.  For instance, we taught him about tithing, and he said he has been paying tithing for years to a church he knew would use it well!  We explained how our church uses tithing funds and he was really happy and impressed with that.  He said most priests in Nigeria use that money to pay themselves, and I guess the richest man in Nigeria is a priest that made up his own church and made bank....... that's pretty sad, and Ugo said that it happens a lot.  He was shocked when we said the prophet and apostles didn't get paid, but he fully agreed that's how it should be.  Ugo is getting Baptized this Saturday at 10:15!  I couldn't be happier for him! 

         We had an amazing Zone Conference with the Laramie, Cheyenne, and Fort Collins Zone's this past Wednesday with some amazing trainings from the AP's and President and Sister McMurray! As soon as President walked in the building, he came straight to me and asked me how I was doing before he talked to anyone else, that's how loving he is towards us missionary's!  Anyways, we learned many things that President is going to implement in the next few months.  President said that if you are serving within one hour of the temple, that you get to go quarterly!  That's so sweet, I can't wait to go!  He also said that in some stakes in the mission, including our YSA wards, are piloting helping members proselyte through Facebook.  We are already starting to meet with some members and going through their Facebook friends and asking them to look for anyone they think would want to hear about the Gospel.  They send them a message when we are with them, so I think it is going to be very effective!  President focused his training on Obedience, Repentance, using the District videos to help us teach more effectively, and to try a lot harder to talk to everyone we see on the street.  These topics is exactly what our mission needs right now!  I can't wait to see the change this makes in our missionary work.  After our Zone Conference, we all brought White Elephant gifts for each other and we all picked one to open.  I got candy, a little game to play with candy, and an orange, so I wasn't disappointed!  I'll attach a pic of the present I got for someone, it was a mom poem with cupids flying around it and a woodchuck picture.  A Spanish Sister got mine...... she didn't appreciate it, but President McMurray really liked the Woodchuck so he asked if he could take it for himself!  He found out it was me that gave those gifts and asked me where I found those random paintings.  Good Will works magic President, let me tell ya! Haha. Overall it was really fun to have all those zone's together and having everyone so happy in the Christmas Season!  

          We didn't have a dinner scheduled for that night, so the AP's called us and asked where the best place to eat was.  We said Born in a Barn, and they invited us to eat with them and President and Sister McMurray, and President said he was paying for us!  Elder Clemence said how lucky I am to have this opportunity at the beginning of my mission!  Most missionaries only eat with President if they are the AP's or at the very end of their mission.  I was pumped!  It was so awesome to eat with them, President is such a good guy!  We talked about sports, his favorite music, mission stories, and other stuff too.  He's honestly my best friend, no joke.  Anyways, born in a barn has the best wings I have ever tasted in my life!  Think Buffalo Wild Wings times 10, they're that good.  I am definitely going to show you guys when I come back after my mission, it's incredible!  Honestly couldn't have asked for a better mission President! 

         Another exciting thing that's happening this week is the mission department is coming to do a training this Thursday.  I thought I was going to have to stay behind because it's only for the AP's, Zone Leaders, and some District Leaders that President picks, but I guess President wants me to come!  That's kind of exciting I guess.  Things should be pretty sweet this week!  The guy that filmed the District 1 & District 2 is coming to show us parts of some new videos from the District 3!  We get some sneak peaks, I'm way excited for that! 

        Overall this week has been awesome and super cold, but I love it!  Laramie is actually surprisingly homie!  People are way nice, being in the YSA Wards is incredible, and I love snow!  The wind kind of hurts, but you get used to it after it's -27 degrees....... (this is the first time in my life where I breathed through my nose and all the snot froze....... I was so confused.... it was the weirdest feeling I've ever felt!) Having a super good coat helps a ton!  Well, I hope you all have a fantastic week!  Watch President Monson's talk "A Perfect Path to Happiness" from this past General Conference.  It's only four minutes and forty seconds, but I think it's one of his most powerful talks!   We watched it with Ugo during one of our lessons this week, and as soon as President Monson opened his mouth to talk, the Spirit filled the room with so much power!  I know that he is our beloved Prophet on the earth today, and I love him with all of my heart.  Love you all!  Thanks for all the emails throughout the week, they always make me smile :). 

Love,

       

 Elder Bailey

 

1. White Elephant Gifts

2. Love College students......

 

 

12/5/16 | Another week is Laradise

   I'm honestly loving it here is Laramie!  The work here is awesome, especially being in the YSA wards.  Going to three different wards every Sunday and seeing so many people introducing themselves has gotten me way confused...... but I'm finally starting to get a lot of people's names down! Anyways this week was awesome!  We had some pretty cool miracles that happened.  

           Well to start off, Monday night was really interesting......... we had to run to Walmart to grab the toilet paper and paper towels we forgot earlier that day.  We were about to head to the check-out line when this lady approached us and asked "Are you guys Mormon?"  We said yes, and she asked "Have you ever thought about converting to Christianity?"  Then she started going off on us, saying many rude and mean comments.  She also didn't give us any room to answer any of her absurd questions.  I tried bearing my testimony on Jesus Christ and she cut me off, Elder Clemence tried to talk and he was interrupted, and Elder Allen asked her a questions and she dodged it.  So we weren't getting anywhere with this conversation.  Finally Elder Clemence and I said we had to go.  The feeling I had coming out of that conversation was horrible, just the way she insulted the Church, and Heavenly Father made me sick.  After we got out to the car, I asked the other Elders if we could say a prayer.  After we said the prayer those bad feelings were replaced by feelings of comfort.  I know that the Holy Ghost filled our hearts as we asked God for help.  I felt such a peace after that prayer, and all I could feel was sadness towards the lady who confronted us.  She is very lost, and that makes Heavenly Father so sad, but all we can do is pray and hope for her heart to be softened.  It was such a testimony builder to me that this Church is absolutely true! I have no doubt in my mind about it! 

           The next day we taught our progressing investigator Wyatt and his less-active girlfriend Charlene.  They graduated in 2016 and I'm actually older than Wyatt is...... he's still 18.  So it is really cool teaching people that are my own age.  We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and Wyatt asked some really good questions.  I'm really excited for him and Charlene! They are such awesome people seeking for the truth! We had to push Wyatt's Baptismal date back a bit because he went deer hunting last weekend and didn't make it to church.  It's all good though, we're going at his pace.  

           On Thursday we drove to Saratoga to go to their district meeting.  It was a really pretty, snowy drive!  The meeting was focused on how to respond to anti-Mormon people when you run into them.  It was nice to talk about that, knowing that you always want to have Charity towards those people even when they're rude.  It helped me think about what I would do better next time we run into an anti-Mormon.  My goal is to never fight, always show love and testify and leave them as soon as you can.  I know this will work next time!  Later that night we taught my favorite investigator, Chris Ugo!  I just found out how to spell his real name! It's Ugochukwu Okpareke, and he speaks Igbo.  His accent is legit, anyways he is such a Golden Investigator.  We taught him about Repentance and invited him to read the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet.  Let's forward to his next lesson on Sunday.  He read both The Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlets.  We talked about life after death, and about how we perform saving ordinances for those who have died in temples.  He was very intrigued with temples, he said to us how he has had these dreams about his parents saying to him that they will always be by his side helping him.  He asked us if his parents would ever have a chance to be baptized, and we said they would have that opportunity!  He is so excited to learn more, and so happy that he will be able to see his parents again.  I'm so happy for Ugo and his decision to be baptized!  We have his Baptismal date set for this Saturday, but we said we could push it back if he didn't feel ready. I'm honestly so excited for him! Can't wait!

            Elder Clemence and Elder Allen had to go to MLC's this past week.  I didn't just want to sit through meetings, so I went with Elder Miner and Elder Ricks.  The coolest thing happened when we went tracting after an appointment fell through.  We knocked on a door and a younger guy answered.  He said he would be interested in reading the Book of Mormon and he invited us back to teach him.  We didn't even have to ask he just said, you guys could come back next week?  So that was a miracle! Then we knocked one door down, and am older man answered.  We introduced ourselves and he told us his life's story.  He has been searching for a religion his entire life, he has read every single holy book known to man!  Seriously some I haven't even heard of before.  He invited us inside, and we talked for another 30 minutes and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it and pray about if it is true.  We said we would be back in a week to see how it all went.  These kind of things never happen when you're tracting, and two happened back to back!  It was amazing!  God does send us to the people that are most ready for the Gospel!  

             Last thing, we ate dinner at the Dickerson's yesterday and Brother Dickerson invited his friend.  His friend's name is Skyler, and he is so ready to receive the Gospel!  He said how he is Roman Catholic, and how he has been thinking the Catholic Church is super corrupt.  He said that the statement that Pope Francis came out with about abortion a couple weeks ago really killed his faith in the Catholic Church.  I guess the pope came out and said that with each case of Abortion the priests can decide whether it's okay for the mother to abort the baby or if it's a sin.  He said that the pope cannot make such a decision, especially from being totally against it to being totally okay with it.  He also thinks the rumors and stories of the Catholic priests molesting little choir boys are true.  I haven't heard about either of these things, but he says that he wants to find another church that is not corrupt.  We taught him during dinner and told him about missions.  We answered all of his questions, and he accepted to read and pray to find out for himself if the Book of Mormon is true!  He wants to meet with us after his last final on the 14th, I'm way excited for him!  Then after the lesson, Brother Dickerson said, "hey the Christmas Devotional that our church puts on every year is starting in ten minutes, would you like to come?"  He said that would be awesome!  So Skyler came and loved it!  He said that it was cool how our church does live broadcasts with the main leaders of the church presiding. He said, "the Catholic Church never did anything like this!"  I'm way excited for him!

              Well this week was amazing, and full of so many tender mercies and miracles!  Hope you all had a great week!  Remember to go to the #LIGHTtheWORLD website! I hope you all to go on every day and watch the short video's and make those commitments to bring Light to other people's Christmas season! Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Bailey

Love it when people put this on their doors..........

11/28/15 | Thanksgiving Break

         This week was pretty good, but kinda slow.  Most of the students were gone for Thanksgiving, which kind of makes the work in the YSA Wards pretty difficult...... but overall the week was pretty solid!  We had a lot of time to go tracting and find new investigators, which was awesome with that brisk Wyoming wind! On Tuesday we were on exchanges with some other Elders and Elder Allen, Elder Ricks and I went tracting in some apartments.  The second door we knocked we ran into an inactive member named Bryce, he absolutely loved us!  Bryce let us in and we talked to him and his wife Charlene.  We asked if we could come back and teach them a lesson, and they said they wanted to feed us!  We had dinner with them on Sunday.  The students are really good at feeding us here! We get fed almost every single night, it's honestly amazing.  

           Let's skip to Thanksgiving.  We had Thanksgiving  dinner with the Allen's.  The two Allen daughters go to the University of Wyoming, so there parents and her brother came down here for Thanksgiving Break.  Their family is so awesome, and dinner was pretty good!  At first the Dad didn't act very happy to have to share their dinner, but he warmed up to us pretty quick!  It was nice to have Thanksgiving with a family!  It made Thanksgiving pretty awesome.  Later that day we taught our investigator Chris Ugo.  He is such an incredible guy!  We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and he said "I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like I've heard this before. It just makes sense."  I totally know that he is right!  As spirits we were taught of Heavenly Fathers plan for us.  We explained this to him and he totally agreed.  Chris is honestly such a prepared person for this Gospel!  We invited him to come to church this Sunday and he did.  He is right on the path towards Baptism, and I couldn't be more excited for him! 

          I had a faith strengthening experience while tracting on Friday.  We ran into so many diverse people.  We ran into atheists, muslims, baptists, and a lot of asians.  But what strengthened my testimony was when we ran into these two anti-Mormon guys with Amish beards.  They were very cruel, mean, insulting, and mocked us pretty bad.  So all we could do was just bare testimony to them and leave.  We all didn't have a very good feeling afterwards.  Elder Clemence said that we should say a prayer.  As soon as we finished the prayer, I felt those bad feelings leave me and they were replaced with the warmest feeling ever!  I know that God loves all of us, and that he watches out for all of His children!  

          The rest of the week was pretty slow, we went tracting in 4 different apartment complex's and found a few people who wanted to learn more.  We have some return appointments with a couple in the Cowboy apartments, and two roommates in the Campus Habitat apartments! So we will see if they are interested this next week.  We also contacted some investigators we have never talked to before.  Most of them were out of town, but some said we could come and teach them this next week as well!  The work in the YSA Wards is awesome, we teach a lot of people and are always busy.  It helps so much when there is a lot of work to to!  This Sunday we already started singing Christmas Music. I honestly love Christmas music so much! It is going to be so awesome doing missionary work this Christmas season, I can't wait!   

         Well I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  I am thankful for all of you that support me, and I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Bailey