Other than that Elder Kimball and I had a pretty amazing last week together, we saw so many miracles! We had an amazing Tracting experience this past Wednesday. That morning we had an appointment fall through, none of the less-actives we visited were home or Interested, our car wouldn't start for awhile, and our day felt like it was awful. We had been working pretty diligently all day, with no success at all. Then we went Tracting. We went to where we had previously talked about going, decided on which house to start at, and started with a prayer. As soon as we were finished with that prayer, a young mom pulled up in her driveway at that house we had decided to start at. We gave her a few minutes to get inside, then we knocked on her door. She answered and she said she was about to head out the door again to go pick up her son. We explained who we were, and had a wonderful short conversation with her. She accepted a Book Of Mormon, and we asked if there was a time that we could go back and talk to her about how families can be together forever. As we said that, her demeanor changed a little, and she looked very interested in that! She said she would call us sometime next week or that we could come back later in the evenings when her husband was home. I know the Lord put her in our path with just enough time to have us talk to her for a little bit. I'm excited to go back and visit her this week to see if she's still interested! Near the end of our Tracting session, we ran into another young mom who was super busy and asked us to come back later. These may seem like little things, but I know that Heavenly Father blessed us as we remained diligent throughout our unsuccessful morning that we had! I've noticed on my mission that when everything seems to be falling apart, when all of our plans fall through, and when things are the most frustrating and hard is when the miracles come. It has been such an amazing thing to understand that Heavenly Father is completely involved in our everyday lives, and especially with His missionaries! I love it!
We had honestly one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever had in my mission to date! We were trying to get in touch with the Wakkinen's this past week, and we texted them. Sister Wakkinen finally replied later that night and asked if we could come over on Thursday at 7:00. We were so excited to teach them again! (Just a reminder, the Wakkinen's are a part member family, the dad is less-active, and the mom and two kids are non-members.) Elder Kimball and I were deciding and praying about what to teach them, and we both felt strongly impressed to read the Book Of Mormon with them. We didn't know why but we thought we should read 1 Nephi 8, about the Tree of Life. Later we realized that it applies perfectly to Brother Wakkinen and his family. As Lehi leads his family to partake of the Tree of Life to partake of the fruit, Brother Wakkinen needs to lead his family in the right direction! Things were starting to fall into place. We got to their house, and they were so excited to see us! Before the lesson, they offered us ice cream and we talked with them for awhile. As we were talking, they told us they had visited the Fort Collins Colorado Temple last week. That took Elder Kimball and I by surprise! The last lesson we had previously taught them with President McMurray there was on the Plan of Salvation. We talked quite a bit about the temple, and I guess they wanted to visit the temple to walk around the temple grounds with their two kids. We hadn't even asked them to, they did it all on their own. I think they are starting to understand the importance of being sealed in the temple with your family for all eternity! That was just the start of the miracles. We started the lesson with a prayer, and we said up front that we were going to read through half of 1 Nephi 8 and talk about what is happening each couple verse. We then told Brother Wakkinen that we were going to have him say the closing prayer and ask Heavenly Father if this is the right direction for his family, then we started with the lesson. We had Book Of Mormon's for everyone, and read through it. Every single one of them were so involved and really focused as they read. The Spirit was so strong as we testified of the truths that we were reading. We got to verse 15 and invited them to finish the chapter as a family, and to pray about its truthfulness! They accepted, and then we turned to Brother Wakkinen for the prayer. Without even hesitating, he started to say the most spiritual prayer I have witnessed in awhile! In that prayer he said, "we thank the missionaries for reuniting us with the truth." As he said that, the Spirit was so strong you could almost hear it! When Brother Wakkinen ended and looked up, he had the biggest smile on his face, and I know that he, along with his family, felt the Spirit as strong as I did! I cannot wait to have another lesson with them, they are progressing so well, and I can't wait to see the outcome. I love being a missionary!
We got to meet with Chad, and he's struggling a little bit. Our lesson about the Restoration was really spiritual and we know he feels that Spirit we feel, but he is having a hard time acting upon those feelings. We will see what happens, but I know that if I do all I can, the Lord will help Chad the best He can. We also visited an investigator we have named Gary this week. We met Gary through visiting less-actives, and he lived in a house that a less-active was still recorded to live in. I think I shared this a few weeks ago, but the first time we talked to him, he explained how his brother was addicted to alcohol and that he didn't know what to do anymore. We told him about the Church's addiction recovery program and that it was for the person who is addicted, but also for the people most closely effected by the addiction. He was really interested in going. We went to visit with him and met hi super nice wife! She told us he was fishing, so we met with him down at the city park pond. We brought him the information about where the addiction recovery classes were held and we brought him a couple of the booklets. We invited him to church, and he said he would try to make it. We didn't see him this week, but we'll get him to come! I love having these little experiences as missionaries!
We taught a wonderful dinner appointment lesson to a family where the dad is struggling with his testimony. A lot of people in our elders quorum are having troubles with their testimonies, and Elder Kimball and I were trying to figure out the best way we could help those who are in need. We decided to share Alma 32:21, 27-28, 42-43. We focused on having that finding Faith, and how we do that every day as missionaries. After reading these scriptures, we challenged him and his family to read from the Book Of Mormon, and pray to Heavenly Father to ask if it is true. We promised them that as they do so, acting in Faith, they will know the truthfulness of these things, and it will strengthen their testimonies! I would like to ask you guys to do the same! I have seen as I have read from the Book Of Mormon daily, and as I have prayed to know if it's true, that it honestly builds my testimony stronger and stronger. We all need that testimony strengthening each and every day do combat what the adversary throws at us. I know that as you do so, acting in Faith, you can know the truthfulness of the Book Of Mormon and its teachings.
I had a great District Meeting Thursday Morning, and Sister McMurray and her daughter Emily came! It was awesome to have them. This week I focused on Preach My Gospel Ch. 10, How can I Improve My Teaching Skills. After praying about what I should focus my training on, I felt that the most important thing was to have everyone come prepared with a question, and we would talk about all of them. It was amazing! Everyone participated so much, and I learned a lot. One thing that stood out to me was when someone asked, What if you don't feel like you have the Spirit with you in lessons? The conversation got really in depth about why some of us don't feel like we have many spiritual promptings all of the time. I loved someone's quote of what President McMurray said about that. He said something to the effect of, "As missionaries, we have the Spirit with us 24/7, so of course we aren't going to feel a huge spiritual difference when we receive spiritual promptings. Any good thought is from the Holy Ghost, and we need to learn to act upon all the good thoughts we have." This struck me. Before these super spiritual experiences that Elder Kimball and I had this past week, I thought I wasn't receiving as many spiritual promptings that I should have been, and it was pretty difficult for me. After I heard that quote, I now understand that I do receive more spiritual promptings than I had previously thought, it just isn't a huge change at all because I am a missionary who is set apart to have the Spirit to be with me always! It was a really cool experience for me.
Sorry this letter is so long! There were just so many miracles that happened, and I had to share all of them. I love you guys so much, and hope you all have a safe, spiritual week! Thanks for all the support!
Love,
Elder Bailey
P.S. Thanks for the package mom, it's always nice to eat your incredible cookies! :)
1. Literally the biggest mailbox I've ever seen......
2. The Bear.
No comments:
Post a Comment