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!
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