On Thursday
we had to pick up a car from the Nissan dealership in Greeley that was
getting fixed, and we had to drive it out to Fort Morgan Colorado to
meet the Sterling Colorado Missionaries to swap with the mission
office’s white Toyota Sienna. We had to got to four different gas
stations and fill up all three cars throughout the day, so we got pretty
sick of filling up the cars with gas.... Honestly it was probably one
of the longest driving days of my entire life....... haha, we were
literally driving after District Meeting, from 1:30 until 6:30,
then we went straight to a lesson with the Bentz and we were busy the
rest of the night. We didn’t even have time to eat dinner it was so
crazy! We had about 30 minutes to visit people and to find people to
teach. In that 30 minute period, from 8:30 to 9:00
we found one amazing new investigator. We were visiting a potential
investigator who didn’t answer, then we saw this man pull up and get out
of the car with his wife and child. Elder Hatch and I both looked at
each other and we both knew we needed to knock on his door. We did, and
we were able to teach him about Jesus Christ and The Book Of Mormon and
asked if we could come back and share that message with him another
time. He told us we could the upcoming Saturday. How amazing is that miracle!? We tried to visit him on Saturday, but his daughter had just returned from the hospital and they said next Saturday
would work better. I know that the Lord blessed us with meeting
Anthony and his family! Even though we only had 30 minutes to go out
and find, as we put forth the effort He still blessed us for it!
Throughout my mission I’ve gained such an amazingly strong testimony of
working diligently until 9:00, and the experience just strengthened that testimony of mine. How incredible.
Later in the week we had a solid lesson with Anne and Jason!
Jason is our investigator who bore his testimony twice in sacrament
meeting last week. We taught them The Plan of Salvation, and the lesson
went so good! At the end, we talked about the priesthood and baptism.
We were able to invite Jason to be baptized on January 13th, 2018,
and he said that he would love to work towards that date! His mom,
Anne, still wants to pray about it and feel a little better about being
baptized. We are so excited to see them progress and work towards being
baptized in January! Jason is setting a wonderful example for his mom,
and that will help her decide to be baptized as well. The amazing part
of the whole lesson was to see the excitement and happiness on Jason’s
face when we set a date for him to be baptized. He has such an amazing
spirit about him, and wants to truly learn more about Jesus Christ’s
true church. How incredible!
On Sunday
night we helped gather food donations at the interfaith choir concert
in Johnstown Colorado with another set of missionaries. Both sets of
missionaries who are serving down there were in the choir so they needed
some extra help. It was really interesting to see a ton of different
people from different faiths all in one place. Elder Gentry and I as we
gathered food from people, were able to tell a major difference between
who was a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and
who wasn’t. We started calling it out to each other, and the people we
knew were members would come up to us and say “Hi Elders!” There was a
distinct amount of light radiating from members, and a different
countenance filled with happiness, joy, and love. The people who
weren’t members of our church seemed like they were lost and they were
missing something. It was amazing to tell that difference, and it was a
testimony builder to me that as a missionary, we are teaching the
truth. We are a part of Jesus Christ’s one complete true church
established again onto the earth. It is so amazing to know that for a
fact. I know The Book Of Mormon is true, and it is the word of God. It
is a true account of His children here on the American Continent! What
a blessing it is to be a part of something that is so true. Think
about how much the Gospel has blessed your life, and thank our Heavenly
Father for blessing you with it! I’m so grateful I have it in my life
and I have such an amazing family, amazing parents, grandparents, and
ancestors who set the path for me to receive these truths. I will
always be grateful for the Gospel in my life. What a blessing!
During my studies this past week, I came across a talk from The
April 1992 General Conference titled, “The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword”
by Marvin J. Ashton. In this talk he mentions a very amazing quote
about becoming Charitable and what the true definition of Charity is.
He states,
“Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never
faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all. …
“Charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever.” (Moro. 7:46–47.)
Charity
is, perhaps, in many ways a misunderstood word. We often equate charity
with visiting the sick, taking in casseroles to those in need, or
sharing our excess with those who are less fortunate. But really, true
charity is much, much more.
Real charity is not
something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a
part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in
your heart, you are never the same again. It makes the thought of being a
basher repulsive.
Perhaps the greatest charity
comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize
someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt
or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses,
and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or
resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle
something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take
advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who
has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.”
This truly opened my eyes about what it means to be truly
Charitable towards our fellow men. This is something I’ve challenged
myself to work on with my missionary work, and with everyone I come in
contact with. I want to invite each of you to think of how you can be
more Charitable with your family, siblings, parents, friends, etc.
There could be many ways we can all improve, and I definitely know I
have sooo many things I need to improve in, but focusing on one thing
will help us become more like our Savior Jesus Christ! I hope you all
have a fantastic week, and remember to seek our ways how you can Light
The World, and help others have a fantastic Christ centered, Christmas
season.
Love
Elder Bailey
Pics:
1: Service at the food bank!
2-3: Our missionary Stake Breakfast this last Saturday .
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