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!
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