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..........
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