We found out about transfers Saturday night, and I'm headed up to
Cheyenne, Wyoming! President McMurray actually called us on Saturday
morning, and called me to be a Zone Leader. I'm still feeling pretty
shocked about it, but I know this is what the Lord needs me to do. I
definitely trust in what President McMurray and the Lord have in store
for me, and I will definitely be looking to both of them for guidance
in this new calling. My new companions name is Elder Callahan, he is
a cowboy from Arizona. I heard he is a hard worker, so I am super
excited!! I'm going to miss it here in Greeley, but I'm excited for
this change.
Well, it was a great week this week. There was so much that
happened! First off, we had three fantastic lessons with an
investigator family this week. Their names are the Buckley's, and we
found them last transfer through looking for a less-active family.
They have seven kids and four of them are interested. The smaller
kids are not super interested, but they'll follow their parents for
now. They literally live right next to the church, so they already
kind of knew who we were. The dad wanted to talk to us about what we
believed, so we finally got in contact with them this past week. He
was interested to know if we believed in life other than our earth.
We said of course, and explained how Heavenly Father has created
worlds without number for all of his children. After we told him
this, he was interested about learning more! That first quick lesson,
we committed the family to read the Restoration Pamphlet. We came for
the second lesson, and they had read! We taught the Restoration, and
it was very powerful. I love teaching the Restoration to people,
there is definitely a reason why we teach it first. There is power in
the Book Of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith! The wife had been
raised to believe a lot of off things about our church, so she started
going off on us about it. We happily explained all of her questions.
She was mainly focused on us still practicing polygamy, and how the
Book Of Mormon took away from the Bible. We explained how we both had
one mom, and that we had stopped practicing polygamy a long time ago.
We then explained how we believe and read from the King James Version
of the Bible and how the Book Of Mormon teaches the same exact
principles as the Bible does. We told her how the Book Of Mormon does
not take away anything from the Bible, and how it does not replace the
Bible at all, it just teaches the same principles and is another
testament of Jesus Christ. After we talked with her and answered her
questions, her heart was softened. We invited them to read from the
Book Of Mormon, and to pray to know if it's true. They accepted, and
our next lesson went amazing as well! They had read from the Book Of
Mormon, and had a lot of questions about what they read! We brought
some members with us, and we read from the Book Of Mormon with them.
We went through the first two chapters with them and explained it in
detail, relating it to them and helping them understand it for
themselves! They really enjoyed learning more about the Book Of
Mormon, and we recommitted them to pray about it. We also invited
them to come to church the next Sunday, and they said they would.
They weren't able to make it to church due to family in town, but I
know they'll for sure get there next week! I love seeing people
change! Our first lesson, the oldest son started to look up what we
believed on the internet, and then started pumping out a bunch of
stuff we believe. He mentioned the Word of Wisdom, and then the whole
family kind of freaked out about it! They love coffee, smoking, and
tea. We explained more in depth about it, and the dad said "Honey, I
need some more coffee, because I might not be able to drink anymore
once I join the church." They are honestly such a golden family, and
I'm glad they are progressing toward true conversion! Even though I'm
leaving, I'm so excited for them. It really doesn't matter what
missionary "gets the Baptism," all that matters is that they get
there!
We did a bunch of Park Contacting this week as well. We had
some amazing experiences! Our first one was with these two gangster
guys. They were about our age, so we started talking to them. We got
in a really deep conversation and they started asking us questions.
We answered them, and then we asked "Do you guys know your purpose in
life? Or why you're here and where you're going?" They said they had
no idea, and then we told them we knew all three of those answers.
They thought it was crazy that we could say that we knew. We
explained, and eventually they accepted a copy of the Book Of Mormon.
Out of the clear blue one of them asked if we had an addiction course?
We were kind of shocked, but we told him all the information about
where the addiction recovery class was held and at what time. We
happened to have one of the packets in our car so we gave him that as
well. He said he was going to attend with his girlfriend because it
had been affecting both of them a lot lately, and he didn't know what
to do. I know that we were supposed to meet him and his friend,
because they needed our help! The Lord works in marvelous ways! On
another day we met Cynthia. We explained who we were, and about the
Book Of Mormon. She said she was Catholic, but accepted a Book Of
Mormon and wants us to stop by her house sometime soon! It was
amazing! I love it when we talk to everyone we can, and one person
out of all the people we talk to is interest in learning more. As we
put forth the effort, the Lord blesses us beyond comprehension!
We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this past Friday,
and I was with Elder McFadden. We taught two amazing lessons to some
of their investigators. One of them has a cousin serving in our
mission, and the other one previously had no knowledge of Jesus Christ
and God in general. Our first lesson we taught the Restoration. It
was cool to see how many questions she had because of her cousin, but
to also see that she began to understand more about the Gospel. She
said when she was younger, she was forced into her parents religion,
and that now she has these options to choose what to believe. Elder
McFadden and I met her randomly on campus on our last exchange, but I
know it really wasn't random. God put her in our path, because he
knew she was ready to learn more about His Gospel. She is progressing
so well! Our next lesson was awesome too! It was really interesting
to teach someone who didn't have a belief in God, or a knowledge of
Jesus Christ before we met her. She asked a question about the Book
Of Mormon that made me think. She asked, "Why did Nephi's brothers,
Laman and Lemuel, always have to go with him when the Lord commanded
Lehi to do something?" I had never thought of this before! Nephi
could have done it alone with Sam, and they wouldn't have had any
problems because they both believed and trusted in the Lord. However,
Lehi sent all of his sons. We were thinking about her question, and
honestly the only answer we could think of was that his wicked
brothers had to go with him to help Nephi progress, and for a teaching
opportunity for future readers. We learn so much from these accounts,
how when we trust in the Lord He always promises to provide a way for
whatever He commands to come to pass, but when we do not trust in the
Lord we cannot have that same promise. I want to extend a challenge
to you all, to read the first 1 Nephi 3-7, and to ponder why Nephi's
brothers had to go with him, and to look for the lessons we learn
because they went with him. I know that you will learn something from
these chapters that will help you through trials in your life.
One crazy thing that happened on exchanges with Elder
McFadden was when we got a call from one of the Assistants, Elder
Chan, and he needed us to come to the mission office to come with them
to pick up some brand new mission vehicles from a dealership in Fort
Collins. We were so excited, no one gets this opportunity! We said
of course, and headed over to Windsor. In our cars we have something
called a "Tiwi," it is like having a babysitter when your are driving!
Tiwi monitors how fast you are going, if you hit a bump too hard or
turn too sharp, or if you are buckled up. It was very smart for the
church to put these in the mission vehicles so that we drive safer as
missionaries, but sometimes they get a little annoying...... Anyways,
these new cars that we were going to pick up didn't have Tiwi's in
them, and we were going to be driving alone from the dealership to the
mission office. It was probably one of the funniest things I've done
on my mission so far! I got to drive a brand new white 2017 Toyota
Tacoma, and I loved it! Honestly, this was a once in a mission type
of deal. It was so weird to be alone driving in a car without a Tiwi,
but it was a fun experience! That day, out of nowhere, it dropped 25
degrees and started snowing really hard, so we got to drive in the
snow and it felt like Christmas all over again! The next day it was
back up to 60 degrees again. I love how the weather here is exactly
like Utah! Reminds me a little bit of home.
One last thing, I was reading in the Book Of Mormon and
found this scripture that I loved. It is in 2 Nephi 32:3, and it
says:
3 "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak
the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words
of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things
what ye should do."
This explains how important studying the scriptures is in our
daily lives! We speak to God through prayer, and God speaks to us
through the scriptures. I know this to be true! Before my mission, I
was not a very good at studying daily. I have seen such a huge
difference on my mission as I have studied from the Book Of Mormon and
Preach My Gospel daily. I have such a greater love for the
scriptures, and my desire to share what I know to be true has gotten
so much stronger! I know that if you guys study daily from the
scriptures, and as you say your daily prayers, you will see a HUGE
difference in your life. Doing the little things upon our testimonies
eventually builds them to be so strong! My testimony of this Gospel,
Jesus Christ, the Book Of Mormon, and the prophet Joseph Smith is so
strong! I know that this is Jesus Christ's true church established
back onto the earth again. I know it, I live it, and I love it!
I hope you guys have a great week this week! I am moving on
to a new place and a new responsibility, but I know that this is the
same work all around the world. My friends in Spain, Ohio, Paraguay,
England, and Mexico are all preaching the same Gospel, and that is the
restored Gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth today, preparatory to the
second coming of the Messiah! I know this Gospel is true, and I love
teaching it to all the people I can every single day. Love you guys!
Love,
Elder Bailey
1. Christmas round two
2. Found a cat named Rick
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