7/24/17 | Happy Pioneer Day!

Man it's been a crazy week this week, but Happy Pioneer Day!
It's weird people out here don't celebrate it, but I'll be celebrating
today!  Hope you all have a good time with the fireworks!  Anyways,
our transfers are tomorrow and we found out last Saturday that Elder
Gentry is leaving me....... we were pretty bummed out about that
because we've only been together for 6 weeks, but we know that's what
the Lord needs!  Even though Elder Gentry is heading out, I'm pretty
excited about my new companion!  His name is Elder Tippetts.  We
actually found out last MLC that we were in the same ward when we used
to live in Gilbert, AZ.  Apparently we used to go to each other's
birthday parties and play when we were kids!  How ironic is that?
We're going to have a lot of fun!
        We were able to do a lot of service this week in preparation
for Cheyenne Frontier Days.  Our first one was at the Western Museum.
We were helping them prepare for the expensive art show they have
every year, so we were working on and around art work, especially the
carvings, that were 14,000-17,000 dollars a piece!  These carvings
were made by a guy named Chester Armstrong, and apparently he can make
them in a very short period of time with a chainsaw!  So awesome!  It
was a bit nerve racking but we were very careful about everything we
did.  We were also able to take part in the Cheyenne Frontier Days
parade representing the pioneers!  We walked and pushed handcarts in
the parade, and people sort of loved us.  There was a man who yelled
at us "Go Home!!", but we just smiled and waived, it was great!  It
was fun to be wearing pioneer clothes like we wore on trek, and to
have our name tags on as well, it was a cool experience!
        We were planning on having a lesson with Nikki, the woman we
met at Walmart last transfer, but she called us and cancelled because
her son was in the hospital.  She said "I still really want to meet
with you guys.  I need to get back into church so I can be who I need
to be for my son." We said we were going to call and check in with her
this next week to set up another lesson, it should be amazing!  We
were going to have another lesson with Emily Verosky and her family,
but they had some stuff going on so we had to reschedule.  We'll meet
with her this week!  The Bishop in the Prairie View Ward told us to
visit a less active, reactivating family to teach the daughter the
discussions.  We visited them, and they were so happy and receptive to
see us!  The mom explained to Emily, the daughter, that we were going
to be the ones to teach her about the gospel so that she can be
baptized!  We set up a lesson for last Sunday, and it went so well! We
were able to teach the whole family the Restoration.  When we talked
about the First Vision, and had Emily read it, the Spirit was so
strong!  It is amazing to see that every single time we talk about and
read Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision, the Spirit always
enters the room.  It is so powerful to know that he saw God the
Father, and His son Jesus Christ.  I know Joseph saw what he said he
saw, and I cannot deny it.  We challenged Emily to read from the Book
Of Mormon with her family and to pray to know if it is true.  The
power of prayer is amazing!  As Joseph Smith had his prayer answered,
we can all have prayers answered through the power of the Holy Ghost.
If any of you are lacking wisdom, ask of God!  I can promise that your
prayer will be answered, it may take time but the answer will come!
        I was studying in Helaman 3 the other day, and I came across
these couple scriptures.  Helaman 3:27-29, 35:

27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the
sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.
28 Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to
those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of
God.
29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God,
which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the
cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of
Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of
misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked--
35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and
stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of
Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea,
even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which
sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

       I think these couple scriptures are so profound!  As we call
upon his holy name, and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, we will
be blessed substantially!  Heavenly Father wants to bless us, we just
have to be diligent in the faith, and ask!  I forgot where I heard
this, but it goes a little like this.  We speak to God through prayer,
and God speaks to us through the scriptures!  I love this quote, and I
know it is true.  I can promise that as you do these things, your life
will be happier!  I love you so much, and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bailey



Some pics for this week:
1-2. The artwork!
3. Companionship Unity💯
4-5. Pioneers at the rodeo!

7/18/17 | Miracle Day!

This week was ridiculously fast, weeks are like days!  Our p-day
is on a Tuesday today because we got to go to the temple today!  It
was amazing!  There is a peace that you can feel while you are in the
temple that you can't feel anywhere else, I absolutely love it!  I
hope everyone who has a temple recommend is always striving to find
time to attend, it will bring so many blessings to your life if you
make it a priority!
     We had a really busy week with a lot of administrative things and
our Zone Conference.  We had to drive some other Elders to a doctors
appointment in Brighton, Colorado, which is outside our mission
boundaries.  We had to get special permission from President McMurray
to go.  We left Cheyenne at 7:00 and didn't get back until 2:00, it
was a long trip!  It was really weird being in the Denver North
Mission and so close to the Denver Airport!  We didn't have anything
to do during their appointment, so Elder Gentry and I decided to go
Tracting in our spare time!  We didn't see any success, but it was fun
to be able to fill that empty time with a meaningful finding activity!
 Later in the week we had to drive the same companionship down to
Windsor for another doctors appointment.  We definitely got some
driving in this past week!
     We had an awesome dinner with the Willis's this past week.  Their
daughter just returned from a mission, and she brought her non member
friend over!  We were able to meet him and he got pretty comfortable
around us.  After our dinner, we taught them a simple lesson about
faith and prayer.  We had the Willis's share their testimonies of
faith and prayer, then we testified of what we know to be true.  The
Spirit was definitely there during our lesson, it was awesome!  We are
hoping that he will be interested in learning more!
    We had our Zone Conference this past week, and it went very well!
Elder Gentry and I had a wonderful training, and we had a lot of
participation and interaction with the missionaries.  We received a
lot of fantastic instruction from President and Sister McMurray.  The
focus of the conference was The Book Of Mormon.  Sister McMurray
discussed how important it was for us to be reading The Book Of Mormon
daily.  She explained how if we read The Book Of Mormon daily, we will
feel the Spirit daily.  She also explained how Satan doesn't want us
as missionaries to spread this message to everyone.  He is trying to
do everything he can to make us feel discouraged, lazy, sad,
depressed, etc.  We need to stand strong and read from The Book Of
Mormon daily to have that power to stand against the adversary in
those trying times.  I know that this concept applies to everyone!  If
you feel like you aren't feeling the Spirit, or feeling happy and
comforted each day, I challenge you to read from The Book Of Mormon
daily.  I promise that it will bring that happiness, comfort, and
peace into your life, however troubling it may be.  You will have the
Spirit with you as you read from this sacred book each and every day!
President McMurray challenged us, from Elder Christofferson's talk in
the new mission presidents seminar, to "utilize it fully, and draw
power from it continually!"  I know I will be applying and utilizing
The Book Of Mormon in my missionary efforts, and I would challenge you
to do the same.  God had given us this record of ancient prophets on
this American continent, to teach us how to come closer to Jesus
Christ.  I know that as you utilize it in your life, that it will
bring you peace and happiness every single day!
    We had a great Ward breakfast on Saturday, and it was fun to
interact more with one of our wards!  Earlier in the week we got a
call from the mission office, and they told us an old lady needed some
help with some stuff around the house.  We called the lady and she was
being a little difficult for us to schedule a time to come help her
out!  We finally decided with her that we would come Saturday at 2:00.
We went over with a member of the Ward to help her, and she told us to
rake some leaves up in her backyard, so we did and raked up all of her
sidewalks and got all of the leaves taken care of.  She then asked us
for a blessing, and she said she wanted us to give her one standing
up.  It was a little strange but we did.  Half way through the
blessing, she told us we were taking too long, so Elder Gentry was
giving her a nice short blessing when all of the sudden she reached
back and spanked him.  He took this as a sign to end the blessing, so
he did and the lady told us we took too long, but thanked us for
taking care of the leaves.  I don't know what it is, but Elder Gentry
is attracting all of the old women in Cheyenne!  First at the
retirement home and then at this service, I wonder what the next
incident will be! Haha
     Yesterday was one of the most miracle filled days of my whole
entire mission!  Elder Gentry and I during Companionship Study
yesterday morning were analyzing what we were doing wrong and what we
could be doing better to be more effective missionaries.  We set some
rules and goals we had, and we are going to try and perfect them as
best as we possibly can! We applied what we talked about during the
day, and we saw the blessings from it!  First, we decided to walk
more, because we feel like driving is a hinderance to the work because
we can't receive spiritual promptings to talk with people, or to knock
on a door if we are going 30 mph past them.  We walked to go visit
some potential investigators, and we had a lot of opportunities to
talk with people!  We talked to a group of young girls who are 7th Day
Adventist's, and they were knocking door to door trying to talk with
people.  We started to talk with them, and they immediately started
asking for advice about how we talk to people going door to door.  It
was really interesting how much they respected us and how nice they
were to us!  I felt like they were asking us like we were
professionals, it was great!  I've never had a 7th Day Adventist ask
me for advice before.  Anyways, they wished us luck and we went on.
We were passing this home when we saw an older couple working out in
their yard.  We started to talk with them and they offered us cold
water, so of course we accepted on a hot day!  They explained to us
their story, and we asked them if we could come back and help them
with their yard and cleaning up their garage.  They said we could, so
we are going back this Wednesday to help them out!  They also said
they love Mormons and have some really good Mormon friends.  So
awesome!  Then we were almost back to our truck when we saw a grandma
with some of her grandkids at the park.  We stopped and talked with
them, and we testified of the Book Of Mormon and asked if she wanted
us to explain more about our church to her another time.  She said she
would love to hear more, so we scheduled an appointment with her in
Thursday.  Later that day after some service, we had a wonderful
lesson with Brother Stott, a less active member we ran into on
exchanges this past week.  It was one of the greatest lessons I have
ever witnessed on my mission!  After we got to know him, he started
asking us amazing questions that we could answer boldly.  He expressed
to us his concerns, and we testified of what we knew to be true.  We
promised him that as he read from the Book Of Mormon, and heeded upon
Moroni's promise in Moroni 10:3-5, and prayed with a sincere heart and
with real intent, that he would receive a witness that the Book of
Mormon was true.  After we testified of this, he told us it didn't
really mean a lot to him because he doesn't know us too well, but that
his active family members had been telling him these things for years,
so he knew they were true.  He said he would read and pray.  We are so
excited for that!  Our last miracle of yesterday was our lesson with
the Verosky's.  Brother Verosky is a recently reactivated member, and
Sister Verosky is a recent convert.  Their daughter Emily, isn't a
member yet, and had been pushed really hard by past missionaries so it
kind of turned her off from being baptized.  We talked with her
parents, and told them that we wouldn't even mention baptism, unless
it came up or if Emily expressed her desire to be baptized.  We taught
them about Jesus Christ and His everlasting Atonement.  We shared
Helaman 5:12 when it talked about building your foundation upon the
Rock of our Redeemer!  Emily happily read all the scriptures we
shared, she asked questions, and we could feel the Spirit in our
lesson. The amazing part of this lesson was when we were bearing our
testimonies to them, we looked over at Brother Verosky and he was
tearing up.  The Spirit was so strong, and I know that Emily was
feeling the presence of the Holy Ghost!  This day was absolutely
amazing!  Heavenly Father blessed us with all of these miracles
because of our recommitment to be the most effective servants we can
be.  I have a testimony of this with all of my heart!  As we put in
the work and remember our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in all
things, miracles will come!

Love,
Elder Bailey

1. Elder Gentry and I sweeping up some garbage for service
2. Zone Conference
3. Double rainbow baby!

7/10/17 | Another great week!

Another week is gone!  We had a great week, and we've seen some
good success!  The 4th of July was great!  It was honestly just
another day of work, but we had a good one!  We went to the ward party
in the morning for breakfast, and for dinner we went to the Browns.
Before dinner some of the kids wanted to play some basketball, so
Elder Gentry and I balled them up!  The Browns had a huge party with
their whole family, and it was really fun to be a part of it!  I
honestly just love the members out here, they take such good care of
us!  They treat us like family!
   We had a fantastic lesson with the Chapman's, who are a less active
family we have been working with.  We visited them last week, and they
said we could come back to share a lesson.  We got to know them very
well, and read 2 Nephi 32 which is about prayer and feasting upon the
scriptures.  We challenged them to study the scriptures as a family
daily, and to have family prayer each night!  They accepted and we are
going to visit them each week to have a family home evening on
Thursday nights!  It was so awesome to see them have that desire to
come back to church and change! Our next lesson we are going to have
the goal to get back to the temple regularly, it should be awesome!
    We had to run down to Loveland, Colorado for a doctors appointment
on Wednesday, and we had a funny run in with a pastor!  We were going
up the elevator, and a man and his wife walked in the elevator with
us.   We said hi to each other, then he said this.  "Two Elders and a
Pastor, I think this elevator is covered!"  We all got a kick out of
that!  Afterwards we got to have lunch with our friends, Elder
McFadden and Elder Littlewood!  We went to Cracker Barrel with them
and had a good lunch!  We both drive Toyota Tacoma's so we had to take
a pic! I'll include it at the end :).
     We had MLC this past Friday and it is literally all of my friends
in the mission!  We had a really good time.  I love being instructed
by President and Sister McMurray!  I know they are inspired to be
leading this mission!  The highlight was when President McMurray had
us watch Elder Hollands talk at the new mission presidents seminar a
few weeks ago.  Dad, you shared some of key topics from this talk, but
I'd encourage you all to read his talk!  It is inspiring!  Elder
Holland shared a few scriptures from the Doctrine and Covenants that
really stood out to me!  In D&C 42: 13-14 it states:
13 And they shall observe the covenants and church articles to do
them, and these shall be their teachings, as they shall be directed by
the Spirit.
14 And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and
if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach.
      I love these two scriptures!  Elder Holland stated that the
missionaries cannot and are commanded not to teach without the Spirit!
 That is why it is so essential to have the Holy Ghost welcome in our
companionship at all times, when we are teaching and when we are doing
everything else!  It is honestly a commandment from God that we have
to teach with the Spirit, and if we don't we shouldn't teach.  As
missionaries we need to have that companionship of the Holy Ghost and
we should do nothing to offend the Spirit.  Elder Holland promised
that as missionaries have the Spirit with us, we can see miracles
occur.  I know this to be true!  President McMurray asked us to share
miracles that we see with other missionaries, to inspire them and to
let them know that miracles are possible as we put forth our Faith! It
was such an inspiring meeting to be a part of, and felt so uplifted
afterwards.  I love President and Sister McMurray!
      We actually had two different miracles this week.  One was on
Saturday night.  We had been having a rough day so far, and we decided
to walk around in our area and visit a list we received from our
bishop.  Our goal was to talk with as many people as possible and to
find someone to teach, so we did just that!  As we were walking
around, not seeing much success, we felt like we needed to knock on a
specific door.  We did and there was no answer.  We kept pushing
forward and we felt another prompting to knock on another random door
about five minutes later.  This time a lady answered, and we talked
with her.  We testified of the Book Of Mormon's truthfulness, and she
said that we call her and come back in two weeks!  It was so awesome,
she seemed really interested!  Can't wait to see where this goes.  Our
second miracle was on Sunday night.  We were out visiting some
investigators, and literally no one was home.  It was 8:45 and we were
about to drive home, but we had the feeling we needed to visit the
next person on our list.  We headed over and knocked on her door, her
name is Nikki.  A little back story on her, we met her at Walmart last
transfer and she said the missionaries stopped coming by a few years
ago and she wanted us to come by again.  The screen door was open and
she yelled at us to come inside, we checked and her husband was there
too so we were all clear!  We went in and talked with them for a
little bit.  We met her husband and there were a few kids running
around!  She said she would love for us to come by next Tuesday to
teach them, so we are so excited!  I definitely believe in diligence.
Seeing no success, with nobody home is hard sometimes, but we decided
to push through and we saw success!
       We had a great week, and I can't wait for this next one!  We
have our Zone Conferences this week so we should have a good time with
that!  I hope you all know how much your Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ loves you, and he knows you by name!  He wants the best for
you, and wants us all to be happy!  That's why we have this wonderful
Gospel that He has provided for us, and Jesus Christ's everlasting
Atonement!  I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Bailey


1. Lunch with Elder McFadden and Elder Littlewood
2-3. MLC
4. Ghetto of Wyoming!
5. Elder Gentry and I at the temple a few weeks ago

7/4/17 | Happy 4th of July!

I can't believe I'm back writing my weekly email again!  This
week went by stupidly fast, I don't even know where time is going
anymore.  Days are weeks and weeks are days, it is absolutely crazy!
We had a pretty busy week this week.  We had two exchanges, and they
both went very well!  We were able to teach Evelyn this past Tuesday.
We read 1 Nephi 1 with her and the less active members she lives with.
We read through the first 12 verses and explained each verse to her,
relating it to her life and Joseph Smith!  The first 12 verses in the
Book Of Mormon relate so much to Joseph Smith receiving an answer to
his prayer!  We related that to Evelyn, and promised her just as
Jospeh Smith and Lehi received answers to their prayers, that she can
receive an answer for herself!  We committed her to read the rest of
the chapter and to pray to know if the Book Of Mormon is true.  She
said she would, so we're so excited for that!  We were supposed to
have another lesson with her this past week, but she went out of town
unexpectedly, so we will be following up this upcoming week!  Can't
wait!
      We visited some less active families this week, and saw some
success!  We first visited the Stevenson's, and they were so happy to
let us in!  We talked to them for awhile, and brother Stevenson
started to joke around with us, so we shot back with a lot of
questions!  We asked him directly why he isn't coming to church, and
he was a little hesitant about answering, but we challenged him to get
back to church!  He said he'd think about it, so hopefully we sparked
something in him!  We are going to start visiting them more often to
try and get him back to church!  We visited the Chapman's this week,
and they were happy to see us as well!  We scheduled a return
appointment to teach them, so we will be doing that this Thursday.  It
was awesome, because the Chapman's showed up for church this Sunday!
We were so pumped!  Hopefully they keep coming and as we teach them,
that they will grasp the importance to partaking of the Sacrament each
week!  The last family we visited were the Brinkerhoff's.  I hadn't
ever met them before, so we were excited to talk to them!  We were
pulling up in their driveway out on the prairie, and all of the sudden
a massive Doberman came out of nowhere!  This is honestly the biggest,
most muscular dog I have ever witnessed!  Of course, who wants to get
out of the car when a massive guard dog is staring at you......... but
luckily they were outside and they called him off.  We got out and
started to talk to them.  They were so nice, and offered us some
lemonade.  This lemonade was amazing!  They said it was raspberry
lemonade mixed with orange juice, it was amazing!  We sat out in their
beautiful yard just getting to know them, they're an awesome couple!
We asked if we could come back to visit them again, and they said they
would love to have us and just to call ahead to check if they would be
home!  We are going to call them this week to schedule a time to meet,
it should be good!  I can't wait to help these less active members
find the joy and peace in Jesus Christ and His Atonement through
partaking of the Sacrament each week!
       We were doing service at a retirement home this past week
serving them lunch, and we had a pretty good experience!  They were
all asking how tall I was, and if I like to play basketball, it was
pretty hilarious!  We were having a pretty good time serving the
residents lunch, and talking to all of them when one of the residents
took a little interest in Elder Gentry....... she snuck back into the
kitchen, where all the workers were, snatched his hand and gave him a
huge hug!  At this point I didn't know what to do, we just looked at
each other, and then the lady tried to give him a kiss!  Luckily Elder
Gentry dodged and put her head on his chest so she wouldn't kiss him!
She asked him if he would come with her, but he politely declined the
offer...... She finally just let him go.  It was a very interesting
experience!  Glad things didn't go anymore south then they already
did.
       I was studying in Alma 17-19 this week about Ammon.  I love the
stories of the sons of Mosiah in Alma, but Ammon's story has always
been one of my favorites.  He is one of the greatest examples of a
faithful servant in the Book Of Mormon!  The faithfulness and love
that he demonstrated towards his brethren, the Lamanites.  Some of my
favorite verses are in Alma 18:8-10.  It states,

8 And it came to pass that king Lamoni inquired of his servants,
saying: Where is this man that has such great power?
9 And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy horses. Now the
king had commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering
of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and
conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a great
feast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was
king over all the land.
10 Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and
his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of
Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my
servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth
remember all my commandments to execute them.

     To be the best servants to our Heavenly Father, we have to
execute all of His commands with exactness as Ammon did!  No one will
ever be perfect in this aspect, but as we do our best to perform all
that we have been asked to do with exactness, we will be blessed for
our efforts.  I promise that as you guys read from the Book Of Mormon,
keep the commandments, and follow what our prophets and apostles have
taught us with exactness, you will be blessed tremendously, and Life
will work out so much better!
     I hope that you all have a happy 4th of July!  I am grateful for
all those who have served our wonderful country, and who have
sacrificed so much for the freedoms we enjoy each and every day!  I'm
especially grateful for my wonderful grandpas, Grandpa Burr and
Grandpa Bailey, who both served in the military.  They have been such
amazing examples to me in my life, and have raised wonderful children
to be my parents, I thank you for that!  I am who I am today because
of your wonderful examples!  I would love to thank all of the other
veterans out there, who have sacrificed so much, thank you for your
service.  I hope you all have a fantastic week this week!


Love
Elder Bailey


1. Good ol sunset!
2. We had to dog sit for a less active member for the weekend, and
this chihuahua was ridiculous, we have no idea what is wrong with it!
 Haha