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!
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