4/24/17 | Greeley is amazing!

   This week went great here in the wonderful Greeley Colorado!  I just can't believe that I'm writing another email again, weeks are starting to feel like days! We had a fantastic lesson with a part member family, the Pritchard's!  We have been trying to meet with them for awhile now, and we were driving past one day two weeks ago and we saw them in their garage, so we stopped and talked to them.  They said to come by Tuesday night of last week.  We came and that fell through, but Brother Pritchard said to come by the same time next week.  We came this past Tuesday, and they were so happy to welcome us in their home!  We talked with them for awhile, and got to know them very well.  We then taught the Restoration, and it was absolutely amazing!  The whole family was engaged in the lesson, even the non-member father, and they were so excited to learn about Joseph Smith and the Book Of Mormon!  The Spirit was so strong as we shared Joseph's account of the First Vision, and we could tell that it had touched their hearts.  We left the invitation with them to do read from the Book Of Mormon as a family, and individually, and to pray to their Heavenly Father if it is true.  We promised them that as they did so, they would receive an answer, because our loving Heavenly Father wants us to find the truth if we ask sincerely with an open heart.  We set up a return appointment with them for this upcoming week at the same time!  We will be reading the Book of Mormon with them, I can't wait!!

    

      We had some really cool experiences while Tracting this past week as well!  We have been trying out a new way of going Tracting, where we start with a prayer, and drive wherever we feel prompted to go to.  We have had some pretty cool experiences through this!  Our first one was with a lady who had just gotten home from the store.  We talked with her about what she knew about Mormons, and she said quite a bit because they stay in Marriott hotels wherever they go!  She said she had even read a little of the Book Of Mormon because there is one in every room in the Marriott hotels!  I thought this was awesome!  We taught her a little short version of the Restoration, and gave her a copy of the Book Of Mormon.  She said she would talk with her husband about when we could come back and teach them some of the key principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  She was so receptive!  The next day, it was cold and rainy, but that didn't stop us!  Our dinner got pushed back, so we decided to tract right where we were.  The rain wasn't too bad when we started, so we headed down the street.  Just three houses in, we met a man named David.  We started to talk with him, and we asked him if he had ever heard of Mormon Missionaries or the Book Of Mormon?  He said he had a little, so we explained to him what the Book Of Mormon was, and how it can bless all of those who read from it and apply its teachings.  He accepted a copy of the Book Of Mormon, and we challenged him to read and pray to know if it was true for himself.  He accepted the invitation gladly!  We asked if there was a time when we could come back and teach him and his family how they can live and be together forever!  He said to come over on Monday night, so we will be dropping by tonight to teach him and his family the Restoration!  I'm so excited to teach him and his family!  After we talked with him, we continued to tract.  By this time it was absolutely pouring rain.  We started to run from house to house to hide under their porches.  Then it was time to head to dinner, so we ran back to the car.  Elder Merrill had a jacket and I hadn't worn one that day, so I was soaked through all of my clothes!  We found one family to bring unto Christ, and that's what made it totally worth it! 

        We had interviews this past week with President McMurray, and they were so awesome!  I love being able to talk with my mission President one on one.  I can truly feel his love that he has for all of us missionaries, it's incredible!  We talked about a lot of things, but we talked a bit about how our mission is starting a Book Of Mormon challenge, from April 16th to September 3rd.  The challenge is focused on 1. Focusing on something that will bring us closer to Jesus Christ, and 2. Uniting us as a mission!  What I chose to focus my study on was The Gospel of Jesus Christ, so Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.  In order to finish this challenge we have to read 27 pages per week.  I am so excited for this, because I have seen it bring me closer to my Savior already, and I have understood the Book Of Mormon so much better than I had before!  President McMurray showed me how he was doing his challenge, so I am following a little of what he showed me.  I know that through reading the Book Of Mormon everyone can come to know of its truthfulness!  I am excited for this challenge to strengthen my testimony of the Book Of Mormon, Jesus Christ, and the prophet Joseph Smith!  I wanted to share an insight from my studies this week.  I read this verse in 1 Nephi 10:19,

19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.

          God will never change!  He is constant, and will always answer His children's prayers if they seek and ask diligently!  Heavenly Father is always there to listen, and answer your prayers.  We just need to be willing to heed to His council, and change.  I know this to be true!  It brings me great joy to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who wants me to speak to Him!  I know that as you all pray and seek for answers, you will receive them through the gift and power of the Holy Ghost!  

          We went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders again this past week.  I was with Elder McFadden again, and it was awesome!  We taught a lesson to two non-members who were very strong and knowledgeable of the Bible.  They came to bash, but Elder McFadden and I didn't let them!  Every question they had about the Book Of Mormon, we backed it up with the Bible.  The best and strongest thing that we can do in these situations is to testify of what we know to be true!  Elder McFadden and I testified strongly of the things we had strong testimonies in, and it invited the Spirit so well!  I through one of them asked a very good question, she asked "I noticed something as you guys were speaking, how you said you know these things to be true.  Most people say they believe what they do to be true, but they never say they know.  How do and can you two know this to be true?"  What a question?!  We testified to her that God had given us that true witness of these things because we asked sincerely and with open hearts.  We said we know these things to be true, because God has witnessed it unto us, and we cannot deny it.  It was a very amazing lesson, and I know that they both felt the Spirit touch their hearts as we testified!  

          Yesterday was a very interesting Sunday.  From Tracting in the cold rain, Elder Merrill got a little sick with a cold.  We didn't really think anything of it, but he was getting worse and worse.  We made it to Sacrament Meeting but Elder Merrill wasn't feeling good at all.  He was shivering, dizzy, running into things and almost fell over a few times.  I took him home after Sacrament Meeting because he needed some rest.  He slept forever!  It was crazy!  Some members brought us over some medicine for him, and some chicken noodle soup that I made for dinner later that night, but I had a lot of time to burn.  I watched so many Mormon Messages, and many other church videos.  I had the chance to watch the movie, Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration, and honestly, I love that man with all of my soul.  If you haven't watched it in awhile, I challenge you to.  It is on LDS.org.  I know that as you watch this movie, you will come to love him so much more than you already do, and your testimony will grow.  I know that Jospeh Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration, and that he did translate the Book Of Mormon by the power of God!  He is my hero!

          Last thing, I was reading an article in LDS.org this past week titled Understanding Your Patriarchal Blessing.  Anyone who has a Patriarchal Blessing should read this!  It was so awesome to read!  It will help you discover new insight and also help you truly understand your Patriarchal Blessing better.  I would encourage all of you who have a Patriarchal Blessing to read it, because I know it will help you.

          I love you all so much!  Thanks for all the support and love you always show for me here on my mission.  I appreciate what you guys do for me!  I hope you guys have a great week this week!  

Love,

Elder Bailey

1. Found this Tracting.

2. Dinner for the sick companion.

4/17/17 | Blessings!

This week hasn't even felt like a week, it went by so fast!  It

was such a fantastic week filled with so many blessings!  We had an

amazing Zone Conference this past week.  It is always so awesome to

see President and Sister McMurray!  The main focus for our meeting was

Becoming Consecrated Missionaries!  The assistants said something that

I thought was amazing!  They said "Don't just be an Obedient

Missionary, become a Consecrated Missionary."  Obedience is great, but

there is a difference between obedience and consecration.  I hadn't

truly thought about this concept before, but it makes total sense.  As

we are Obedient we decide whether we are going to keep the rules and

commandments, or not.  As we are Consecrated we always keep the rules

and commandments no matter what, but also we talk with everyone we can

about the Gospel, we have a true desire to work and bring others unto

Jesus Christ, and we receive joy from our efforts!  I have a lot to

work on to become a Consecrated Missionary, but I know that as I do

those little things that we have been asked to, I can become what my

Heavenly Father wants me to become!  In President McMurray's Training,

he read Alma 23: 7-8 where it says,

 7 For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons

of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more,

neither against any of their brethren.

 8 Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord:

        This is where the Anti-Nephi-Lehies bury their "weapons of

rebellion" and become converted.  President McMurray had us write down

three things that were our "weapons of rebellion" and to bury them in

order to become the Consecrated Missionaries Heavenly Father wanted us

to become!  It was a really cool activity, to find those things that

we need to change and to change them to become better!  This activity

honestly applies to everyone!  I want to challenge all of you to find

your individual "weapons of rebellion," bury them, and change for the

better.  I know that as you do this, Heavenly Father will help you to

make that change, and give you the strength to become a stronger, more

faithful, child of God.

        We had a lot of service that we have done this week.

President McMurray has asked that each companionship in the mission

should get 10 hours of service each week.  We ended up with 13 hours

this past week, and it was great! We first helped a family up in Nunn,

Colorado build a fence.  We dug out the holes and everything.  I

hadn't ever built a fence before, so it was a pretty good experience!

Our next opportunity came when we went to a place called Horse Bud.

It is a riding rehabilitation center for kids with autism, and we go

and help when the kids aren't there.  We first helped smooth out their

sunflower garden, then while some other elders were finishing that up,

we went and groomed and combed the miniature donkey and miniature

horse!  We helped bathe the miniature horse, and painted its hooves

and hair in preparation for it to go around for autism awareness.  I

never thought I would be painting a miniature horses hooves!  Learn

something new every day!  We also helped with the Bishops Storehouse,

GRC (Global Refugee Center), and at Arc Thrift store.  We have seen a

lot of opportunities come up from doing service.  Random people always

come up and ask us questions, and it really gets us out in the

community to let people know we are here to serve them!  For example,

a lady came up to us in Arc, and we started to talk with her.  We

ended up offering to help her move because she was expecting a baby

soon, and she was moving to a new apartment so that her mom could stay

with her and help with the baby.  We will be helping her this week.  I

love seeing different opportunities come as we are serving others, it

has been an amazing to see that this week!

        This week we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders, Elder

McFadden and Elder Prescott.  I was with Elder McFadden this time

around, and we had some amazing experiences!  We went on the

University of Northern Colorado's campus in the morning and went

contacting.  We were really trying to talk with everyone we could!  It

was frustrating because it was right in the middle of everyone

changing classes, so we literally couldn't talk with everyone because

there were too many people..... We tried our best though!  We handed

out four copies of the Book Of Mormon, and got to talk with a bunch of

different people.  It is so diverse on college campus's, it's kind of

crazy!  We talked with this one random girl who I had met a couple

months ago while helping a member out at the school's theater that

they both work at!  She remembered me, and we started talking.  She

accepted a Book Of Mormon and wants to talk with us sometime.  I know

that was definitely not a random coincidence!  We also saw our friend

Keaton Mott, he's the starting QB here at UNC, and he's from Bingham.

He's still recovering from his knee surgery that he had, but he wants

to meet with us sometime too.  He wants to reactivate and try to go on

a mission as well, so we are trying to help him out as much as we can!

 While we were talking with him, a random girl walked past us, so we

started to talk to her.  Turns out her cousin, Sister Bertha, is

serving in our mission in Loveland.  We asked if she would ever want

to talk with us about what her cousin is teaching, and she said she

would love to!  She said she wants to learn more so that her faith

will grow more in her church.  We'll see about that! :) We exchanged

numbers with her to meet up sometime.  All of these little experiences

were meant to happen, I know that for sure! They were set up by our

Heavenly Father to have us be able to connect with these people to

help them come closer to Jesus Christ!  Later on exchanges with Elder

McFadden, we taught one of their investigators.  We first answered all

of her questions about the introduction and the testimonies in the

beginning of the Book Of Mormon.  She had some really in depth, great

questions!  Then we read from the first 12 verses of the Book Of

Mormon, and went in depth in each verse.  The first twelve verses of

the Book Of Mormon are amazing to apply to Investigators lives, and

Joseph Smith's answer to his prayer which is pretty identical to

Lehi's answer to his prayer.  We went in depth on that, and she loved

it!  We testified that if she read from the Book Of Mormon, and truly

asked to know for herself if it was true, she would receive an answer.

The Spirit was so strong in the room!  She accepted to continue to

pray and read, and I know she has the faith to receive her answer!   I

love testifying about the Book Of Mormon and Joseph Smith, it always

invited the Spirit.

       We taught a potential investigator this week named John.  We

have been trying to get in contact with him for a few months, but we

haven't been able to because he is in a wheelchair and can only come

out in good weather.  We finally had the chance to meet him, and it

was such a great opportunity!  We shared the easter video with him,

and talked about faith in Jesus Christ.  We set up a return

appointment with him for next Saturday!  We'll be reading the Book Of

Mormon with him then.  It should be awesome!

       The Windsor Stake had an Easter Contada, or a music celebration

for easter this past Friday and Saturday nights.  We were invited to

attend by the Stake President, and by a family!  It was incredible to

hear others testimonies of the Savior through song.  Music invited the

Spirit so strongly, and I love it!  These nights really set the mood

for Easter Sunday! I was grateful that we were able to attend.  Our

Easter Sunday was pretty good!  We had wonderful personal studies

about the Savior, incredible Sacrament Meetings, and a wonderful

dinner!  Right before dinner, Elder Merrill and I went Tracting.  We

drove around, and let the Spirit guide us where to go.  After about 15

min of lefts and rights, we felt good about the street we were on.  We

started to tract, and we talked to many people!  We went to all the

houses we felt prompted to go to, and almost every one talked to us.

Out of all of them, no one yelled at us, and we were able to give out

five copies of the Book Of Mormon in under an hour!  What a miracle!

That never happens in Colorado.  We had some really great

conversations with people, and we went around specifically talking

about Jesus Christ and Easter!  It was honestly one of the best

Tracting sessions I've ever been on!  After all of this we were

honestly on a spiritual high, both of us were so happy, and we could

feel the happiness and true joy of sharing the Gospel with others.  It

is a feeling that I can't really describe, but it is honestly an

overwhelming sense of joy to know that you talked to all the people

you could about the Gospel!  We had dinner with the Whetten's, and it

was awesome!  They are an amazing family, and it was an amazing

dinner.  After dinner, the McClure's invited us over for root beer

floats, and cake for Elder Merrill's birthday last week, and for the

McClure's son's birthday!  They are one of my favorite families in the

ward.  Our Easter was really one for the books.  Being able to

represent our Savior, Jesus Christ on the day of His resurrection was

absolutely amazing.  I truly felt so much of the Saviors love for the

people we talked to, and the joy that He feels when they accept some

of the truth!  I love Easter! I hope you all had an amazing one as

well.  If you haven't seen the Easter videos on Mormon.org, go watch

them!  They are incredible, and truly help us focus on what the Savior

taught and did for us.

         Overall, this week was amazing.  I am grateful to be here in

Colorado serving my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.

Representing Him at such a special time of the year was one of my

favorite experiences so far on my mission.  I love my Savior with all

of my heart, and testify that He Lives!  I know that as you come to

know our Savior more by studying the scriptures, you will gain a deep

and abiding love for Him, and appreciate what He has done for each and

every one of us.  I love you all so much, and hope you have a great

week!

Love,

Elder Bailey

1,2,3,4. Our service pictures!  (That blonde spot in elder Prescott

hair was from some one the washable spray paint that we sprayed on the

horse.......)

5. Found this Tracting!

4/10/17 | Working with members

Hello Fam!  This week was great, it absolutely flew by!  I

can't believe I'm sitting here writing you again.  We had a lot of

things happen this week!  We went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders

this last week, and I was with Elder Prescott.  We saw some miracles

Monday night!  We were on the University of Norther Colorado's campus,

contacting people.  We were doing this at the last hour of our day

from 8:00-9:00.  We call this "miracle hour", and I truly have a

testimony of it now.  We were out talking to people, not seeing too

much success.  We handed out a few Book of Mormon's, and it was

getting late.  We decided to walk back to the car, and from 8:45 on we

started to see the miracles!  The last three people we ran into, all

had friends who were on missions!  The first girl we talked to, had

been to early morning seminary multiple times, and had attended church

multiple times as well with her friend.  We asked if she wanted to

know what her friend was doing 24/7, and we gave her our number.  The

next two girls both had both been invited to church by their friends,

and had been given a Book of Mormon by them as well.  It was honestly

so crazy to see the miracles of working until the very last minute.

The Lord truly blesses us as we do so, and put forth the effort!

           We finished delivering Easter invitations this week for our

Stake "Easter Contada" and we had a great visit with an older

less-active member.  She invited us in, and we shared the Easter video

with her, and she loved it!  After our lesson, she got looking at my

name tag and said, "Bailey huh?  My mothers maiden name was Bailey."

Turns out she is from Ogden Utah, and I knew we had some relatives

from up there with the last name of Bailey.  We kinda figured that we

were related somewhere down the line, and she thought that was

absolutely amazing!  It is so crazy how we can make those weird

connections with people, and I have seen that so much on my mission so

far!!  After that, we asked her why she hasn't been to church.  She

said that her husband isn't a member, and she just hasn't been

motivated to go.  We invited her to come to church, and she said that

she will someday.  That made me a little sad she said someday, but I

guess she's not ready yet.  It is honestly such a small world!  Can't

believe I met a distant relative..... so crazy!

          We taught the young men's about furthering their missionary

work this past Wednesday.  It went very well!  The young men had great

answers, and expressed a true desire to invite others to come closer

to Christ!  We taught, did a role play, and they participated so well.

They all committed to invite and share the Gospel with their friends.

We reassured them that doing so didn't have to be weird or pushy, but

that it should be the little things that would be the most effective.

For example, sharing their testimonies through their example, inviting

their friends to campouts and youth activities, and always having that

pure love of Christ for everyone.  Bearing your testimonies to others

does not have to be elaborate either!  It can be simple things like I

just listed that can be the most effective!  I know that as you share

your testimonies with others through these small and simple means,

then you will see the blessings for doing so, and also you will be

able to plant those seeds in all those you come in contact with!

          We focused a lot on working with members this week as well.

We had the chance to follow up and teach eight different families!

They have had great experiences inviting their friends and other

people they knew to learn about the Gospel.  We have had multiple

families tell us how excited they felt after a friend asked them for

help, and they could help that friend through the Gospel!  The members

in our wards that we cover have a hard time with their Member

missionary work.  Their are some great families who are always

reliable with that, but most have a hard time with it.  We have been

trying to help them understand that it can be easy!  This week

President McMurray had asked us to study Ch. 13 in Preach My Gospel

titled "How do I work with Stake and Ward Leaders?"  We studied that,

and implemented a lot to help our wards progress.  We met with Bishop

Wright from the Peak View Ward to discuss our Ward Mission Plan.  He

is new from the Ward split a few weeks ago, and we wanted to ask him

how we could help the Ward the best. The previous Bishop didn't have a

Ward Mission Plan in place, so we asked if we could create one!

Bishop Wright loved the idea, so we are going to be creating that in

the next few weeks to bring it to the Ward Council.  We talked for

awhile, and we discussed having a missionary fireside next month to

kick off the newly made Ward Mission Plan.  He loved that idea as

well!  I know that once we do this, the Member missionary work in our

Ward will become so much better than it already is!  It is just going

to take time for everyone to catch our vision on how the work should

be!  It will happen, I know it will.

          We have been trying to meet with the Wakkinen's for the past

few weeks, and they just haven't been responsive.  We were at dinner

at the Mellman's house last night, and Callie and Miley Wakkinen were

there!  We were so happy to see them!  We played around with them in

the back yard, drew with some chalk, and then had dinner.  Brother and

Sister Wakkinen came to pick them up afterwards, and we got to talk to

them!  They told us the past couple weeks have been so busy, and that

they haven't had time to meet with us.  This gave me a little comfort,

knowing that they had been thinking about it and that we have put

forth that effort to meet with them this week.  We will meet with them

this week and teach them another wonderful lesson!  We can't wait to

meet with them again!  One of the Mellman's younger daughters is best

friends with Callie Wakkinen, and she has been inviting her to a lot

of things lately because of our invitation to them our last dinner

appointment to become better Member missionaries.  Through their

friendship, the Mellman's and the Wakkinen's have become such good

friends!  We know that as they fellowship for the Wakkinen's, that

sometime soon they will come closer to Christ and His church!  It is

so awesome to see success through our members.

         Elder Merrill had two doctors appointments on Friday, one in

Brighton and one in Windsor.  Brighton is outside of our mission, and

we drove down there for the appointment.  This doctor sees a lot of

missionaries in our mission for various reasons, and guess what his

name is?  Yes, it is Joseph M. Smith!  He is a member who I guess

see's missionaries for free?  Anyways, those who see him have

permission to leave the mission boundaries to go.  It was so strange

to be outside the mission, and to watch airplanes take off and land at

the Denver International Airport! It felt really weird, but since we

were driving past Longmont on our way back, we got permission to eat

lunch with Elder Kimball and his companion at Cafe Rio!  I haven't had

Cafe Rio in awhile, and it was absolutely amazing!  Seeing Elder

Kimball was great too! Haha.  After that we headed up to the mission

office in Windsor for his next appointment.  I guess we have a mission

psychologist, so a lot of missionaries see him.  Elder Kimball's

companion saw him right before mine did, so we got to talk for awhile

there.  It was so good to see him again!  He is doing great with his

new companion!

           It was Elder Merrill's Birthday this Saturday, so we

celebrated a bunch! (I guess as much as we could being

missionaries....) We had to get our car back light fixed again at the

Ghent Chevi, and guess who we saw again?  Yes our murderer friend....

He was happy to see us, but his stare still gave me chills when he

looked at me!  Anyways, some fantastic members, the Hegerhorst's,

picked us up while our car was being fixed to feed us lunch for his

birthday, and they made him a cake and gave him a present!  That was

fun.  All of our lessons fell through, so that was a bummer, but I

secretly planned with our Zone Leaders to switch our key with theirs

so that they could be waiting for us in our apartment when we got home

for a surprise birthday celebration!  Elder Merrill had no idea what

was coming, and he was so happy!  He told us that he had never

celebrated his birthday before, and this was honestly one of the first

times he had ever celebrated with a bunch of people.  That kind of

touched all of our hears a little, and we were glad we celebrated!  It

turned out to be a great birthday for him.

          Okay one last thing.  We had an incredible lesson with a

part-member family last night.  Sister Whitehead had asked us to find

a Serbian copy of the Book Of Mormon so that she could mail it to a

friend with her testimony in it.  She said she has been wanting to do

it for years, and that when we were at her house for dinner last week,

she had randomly had the though to do it again!  Turns out the Book of

Mormon was barely translated into Serbian last Spring, so this had not

been a random prompting.  We found one for her, and delivered it last

night.  We were able to share an easter message with Sister Whitehead,

her husband, and her daughter, who are both non-members.  We showed

them the easter video, and the whole time I prayed that they would all

feel the Spirit while they watched.  About halfway through the video,

the Spirit entered the room, and it was so strong!  I know they felt

it!  We invited them to watch the rest of the seven videos about the

Principles of Peace that Christ taught on the earth.  I would invite

you to do the same!  Watch the Easter video on Mormon.org, and watch

one of the principles each day until Easter.  This will help you get

in the mindset for Easter, and help you remember what Jesus Christ has

done for you!  I know that if you do this, you will better know and

understand what your Savior, Jesus Christ, has done for you.

          I love you all so much!  Thanks for the support each and

every week!  I know that all of your prayers and love towards me has

helped me every single day of my mission!  I am so thankful for that.

I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that He lives!  I

know that as you prepare for easter by studying His ministry here on

earth that you will come to love Him so much more than you already do,

and that you will begin to understand what He has sacrificed and done

for each and every one of us!  I hope you all have a great easter this

week, and remember, He knows what you are going through, always!

Love,

Elder Bailey

1. Elder Prescott and I at dinner, their home schooled children wanted

to have us wear these hats

2. Doctor Joseph M. Smith, M.D. (Modern Day Prophet) :)

3. Elder Kimball and I

4/3/17 | What a General Conference!

  This week was absolutely amazing!  Here in Colorado, it was rainy and cold most of the week, but that didn't stop us from having a great week!  I hope you all enjoyed General Conference, because I absolutely loved it!  I'll talk about that more a little later.  

        First off we had an alright meeting with Chad.  We met up with him, talked with him about his recent struggles, and then taught him a lesson.  We read from Helaman 5: 9-10, about how we need to build our lives upon our Savior, Jesus Christ, because He is our rock.  We then talked to him about the importance of reading from the Book Of Mormon.  We invited him again to read from the Book Of Mormon, and pray to know if it is true.  We promised him that if he did, he would receive an answer from God through the Holy Ghost. He hasn't kept his commitments lately, and pretty much disregarded his Baptismal date that we set for him.  We have been praying and hoping that he will read and pray for himself to know if the Book Of Mormon is true.  We are going to meet with him this week, and see if he has kept what we have asked him to do.  We are going to talk with him and tell him why we are here as missionaries, and if he is not willing to keep commitment, then we have to focus our time elsewhere on those who are ready to receive the gospel.  We'll see how it goes.  

          

          This past Wednesday, we had a wonderful Zone Meeting!  We had an Easter Egg hunt, and it was full of wonderful trainings!  President Goodell, a member of our mission presidency, gave a wonderful training on the importance to members in missionary work and about what true success as a missionary is.  He said, "What do you guys think success is in a missionary experience?  When you invite, even if the individual rejects, it is success!  Only when you invited is that a true missionary experience!"  I thought that was so profound!  I feel that everyone is a little hesitant to share their testimonies, because they are afraid to get rejected, but as we come to understand what success really is as a missionary, then we can have confidence and strength when we invite others to come unto Christ!  He later said, "There are 7 Billion people in this world, 15 million members of the church, and only 70,000 missionaries.  The Lord is hastening His work, and we need every member of this church to be a part of the missionary efforts!"  I loved it when he shared this!  In our mission, we are pushing member missionary work, with the youth, Facebook, and so on.  Honestly, when the members are on the same page as the missionaries, then more people join the church, and receive those covenants that they are missing in their lives.  What President Goodell said was so profound, and we have been implementing it so much more since then!  I know that as the members become better missionaries, the Lord's work will press on! 

        

         This Saturday and Sunday with General Conference was so amazing!  I learned so many fantastic things!  For the two Saturday sessions, we went over to the Mellman's house, they fed us breakfast and lunch, and it was awesome to be with them!  For the Priesthood Session, Brother Tippetts took us to Culver's for dinner with his brother and his son, and then we went to the Stake Center to watch it.  For the Sunday Sessions, the Tippetts had us over for both of them.  We had breakfast and lunch with them, and had a wonderful time at their house.  It was honestly so nice to be with families for General Conference, because I felt like I had a little piece of home there when I was watching it with them.  I had so many favorite talks I don't know where to start!  I think my three most favorite talks were all from the SundayMorning Session!  I loved President Monson's talk on gaining a testimony of the Book Of Mormon!  It is so true, that if we truly read the Book Of Mormon, and pray to our Heavenly Father to ask if it is true, we will receive an answer, which I also know to be true along with President Monson! It is wonderful to think that we can receive direct personal revelation if we are truly seeking to find the truth.  I loved, Elder Rasband's talk about recognizing the Spirit.  I love when he said in his 4th point, "We must act on the first prompting.  We must be confident in our first prompting.  Sometimes we wonder and second-guess if it is our own thoughts rather than spiritual thoughts.  When we do this, we are dismissing the Spirit.  First promptings are pure inspiration from heaven, we must act upon them to gain our Heavenly Fathers trust."  After hearing this talk, I recommitted myself to become more diligent in heeding to the voice of the Spirit.  I know that as I do, that I will have so many more missionary opportunities, and that I will be able to recognize and learn the voice of the Spirit.  From Elder Clayton's talk I loved at the end when he stated, "When we trust in a Him, like water to wine, we will be transformed.  Trust in the Lord, and whatever He says to do, do it."  Okay, one more talk I loved was Elder Costa's talk!  I loved how he focused on the investigators who were watching Conference, and how he shared his conversion story.  It is always so powerful to hear conversion stories of those who came to know that this church was true, they are always some of my favorites!  I hope you all learned something from this wonderful General Conference, because there was so much to learn!  I know that as you work on those things that you learned, and truly want to change, the Lord will magnify you and help you become greater than you could have ever become on your own!  I want to challenge you guys to heed to the council of our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and truly read from the Book Of Mormon, and pray to Heavenly Father to ask if it is true.  I know that as you do so in Faith, that you will receive an answer through the power of the Holy Ghost.  If you have a testimony of the Book Of Mormon, or even if you don't, this challenge applies to all who seek the truth.  Our testimonies are living, and if we don't spiritually nourish them day by day, then they will eventually dissipate.  We need this strengthening in order for us to combat the evils of the world, stay strong in this wonderful Gospel, and work through our hard trials in our lives!  I know those who do not have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, will come to know of its truthfulness if they do what has been challenged!  I have seen it in others lives, and I know it can come to pass.  I hope you all give this a chance, so that you can give Heavenly Father a chance to speak to you! 

       

         One last story.  After the Sunday Afternoon Session of General Conference, and after our dinner, we were heading to our car when a thought popped into my head.  It was to go to the Mellman's, and teach the Restoration lesson, and to challenge them to do the same challenge I just asked you guys to do.  I knew immediately that this was a "first prompting" from the Spirit.  I called them immediately and asked them if we could come over to share a short message, they said we could!  After I got off the phone, Elder Merrill asked me why we were going up there, we had just seen them all Saturday, and he didn't think that was the most effective use of our time.  I started to think it wasn't either, but then I remembered the voice of Elder Rasband,

 "We must act on the first prompting.  We must be confident in our first prompting.  Sometimes we wonder and second-guess if it is our own thoughts rather than spiritual thoughts.  When we do this, we are dismissing the Spirit.  First promptings are pure inspiration from heaven, we must act upon them to gain our Heavenly Fathers trust."  

          We headed up to their house and shared the message of the Restoration.  It was awesome!  As I recited the First Vision, I remembered what my dad, Brother Hilmo, Brother Ballif, Brother Anderson, Brother Oaks, and Brother Lee had always said to me, the slower you recite Joseph Smith's First Vision account, the more powerful it will be.  I recited it slowly, and reverently.  It was so amazing to feel the Spirit enter the room, and I could tell that the Mellman's could feel it as powerfully as I could.  I love how powerful this lesson is!  We invited them to do as Joseph Smith had done, ask of God after reading from the Book Of Mormon, if it is true.  We challenged them to also pray to know of someone they could invite to learn about the Gospel, and we promised them they would receive an answer to that as well. After we closed up our lesson, and we were talking with Brother and Sister Mellman, Sister Mellman said to us, "you know there were two non-members who you taught tonight right?"  They had a bunch of their cousins over, and it turns out that two of them are not members!  Their father is very anti, and would never allow them to hear about the Gospel.  We were able to share the Restoration without even knowing they were present, and I know that this is why I had the prompting to visit and teach them yesterday night.  I know those two little children heard our testimonies, and felt the Spirit that was invited into the room.  That made me so happy I had needed to the Lord's call, and listened to the Spirit.  This experience strengthened my testimony on the Spirit of Revelation and Spritual Promptings.  We can all receive spiritual promptings, we just have to learn the language of the Spirit in order to discern them.  I know this to be true! 

         I hope you all have a fantastic week this week!  I love being a missionary in this great work, and I know you guys can be missionaries also if you invite others to come unto Christ!  Love you guys!

Love, 

Elder Bailey 

Sorry I don't have any pics, I'll make sure to take some this week! 

3/27/17 | New Companion!

 This week was so good!  It was a little hard with my new
companion, but things are looking up!  We spent a lot of our Tuesday
morning getting Elder Kimball ready to go.  We cleaned our whole
apartment, got him all packed up, and went off to the mission office.
I dropped him off, which was super sad, and picked up Elder Merrill.
I got to know him pretty good this week, so I'll give you the main
details about him!  He is from St. George Utah, he is pretty quiet
when it comes to small talk, he has been out for five months, he is
22, and he is a pretty big guy!  As soon as we got to the apartment,
we didn't have much time to get him settled in.  We had a lot of
people to call and contact, so we got right to work!  This first week
with him has been a pretty big change, but I know that change help us
both become better missionaries.

            We visited with our High Priest leader that night to
discuss a list of non-home taught families and people in the Ward.  We
went through each one, and he wanted to know if we knew any of them.
We knew quite a few, but not a lot of them.  Our week this week was
focused mostly on visiting all of these people, and handing out
invitations to an Easter celebration our Stake is having this April!
It was so busy with so many people to visit and we had to try some
people over and over again to finally get in contact with them.  We
had some success through this, but most of the people were not
interested.  We got to meet a lot of new less-actives and talk with
them, so that made it all worth it!  I don't know what it is, but it
is so fulfilling to talk with people, during Tracting, these visits,
or just talking with people on the streets!  I've noticed that I am
happier and feel more successful when I talk to more people each and
every day!  Spreading the Gospel is such an amazing opportunity as a
missionary, and I know Heavenly Father blesses everyone who shares
their testimonies, including you guys!  I know that if you strive to
be that best example for your friends, share your testimonies, and
look to help those in need, Heavenly Father will bless you for your
efforts!

           We tried to meet with Chad this last week, but he was
always busy with something.  We invited him to church, but he had
work.  We are going to try our best this week to meet with him and see
where he is at.  I'm a little worried he isn't going to be progressing
anymore, but I know that as we do all we can, Heavenly Father will
help us to bring him closer to Christ.  We are definitely going to
meet with him this week.  We have been trying to set up an appointment
with Cameron and Shayden all week, and they finally got back to us!
Shayden is very interested in learning more about the Book Of Mormon,
and his dad, Cameron, wants him to choose for himself what church he
wants to join.  They texted us and said they couldn't meet till this
upcoming week.  I can't wait to meet with them again!  Our goal is to
invite Shayden to be baptized this next lesson, and I can't wait to
see both of them progress!  We are going to meet with the Wakkinen's
as well this week, and we want to talk with them about Baptism as
well!  I am so excited for this week, and all of our investigators we
are going to teach!  It will be a good one!

           Well, I had a doctors appointment with the podiatrist up in
Fort Collins, and I got both of my ingrown toenails successfully
removed!  It hurt pretty bad (the shots hurt the worst.......), and it
has been sore most the week, but I know Heavenly Father is helping
them heal each and every day to help me continue to be fully healthy
to do missionary work!  I haven't been able to fit my left foot in a
church shoe for the rest of the week, so they gave me an open toed
boot thing to wear!  It goes great with my every day Mission clothes
so I'm not complaining!  I'm just happy that my toes are healing very
well!  I definitely know that to be a blessing from my Heavenly
Father!  I have a return appointment this week to check on how they're
doing, so hopefully that goes well!

           We had Ward Conference this past Sunday, and we got to hear
from the Stake Presidency!  They are amazing.  It was mainly focused
on the temple, and making covenants with our Heavenly Father.  There
is always such an amazing Spirit when people talk about the temple,
and I love it!  I was thinking a lot throughout the Ward Conference
about how fortunate I was to live in Utah, where we honestly have 8
temples within 50 minutes of our houses!  I want to extend an
invitation to you guys, to strive to attend the temple more regularly
wherever you may live!  I know that if you do, your life will be
enriched with blessings, and you will notice a change in how much you
can feel the Spirit on a regular basis!  Mom, you're probably the best
example of someone who goes to the temple regularly to me, and I'm so
grateful for that example you have set!  I am definitely going to
strive to do this for the rest of my life, wherever I may live,
because I know that Heavenly Father will bless me for it!

           Our district got changed up a bit with the transfer, so now
we have two companionships of elders!  It was pretty interesting with
such a small group, but District Meeting went very well!  One thing
that stood out to me while I was preparing for District Meeting was a
scripture, Mosiah 28:3, which states,  "Now they were desirous that
salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not
bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts
that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake
and tremble."   This is such an amazing scripture!  It is talking
about the sons of Mosiah, and when they were going on their missions.
This applies to missionaries, as well as everyone else!  If we have
this mentality when we share the Gospel with others, truly caring for
their salvation, then we will have such amazing opportunities to help
others learn about this true Gospel!  Just think, if you have a friend
who is struggling with their testimony, or is going through a hard
time, the Gospel will make them happy!  Just sharing a simple
testimony could change their life.  I know this to be true!  Through
the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all can be cleansed from their sins,
and once you utilize it on a daily basis, you can always be happy!
Please care enough for those you love to help them when they are
struggling.  Their is only One who knows how they are feeling, and
what they are going through, and that is Jesus Christ.  Once we turn
to Him, our burdens will be made light!

             This week was great, and I am looking forward to the
fantastic week ahead!  I hope you all have a wonderful week this week,
and I know that if you are struggling with something, turn to Heavenly
Father for guidance and help.  In Him we can find peace, joy, hope,
and light through any darkness we may be in.  I love you guys so much!

Love,
Elder Bailey



Long car ride, I couldn't help myself.......  love you guys!