What a week! Christmas time is absolutely amazing! It was so fun to talk with you family! I loved catching up, talking about how you were all doing, and sharing stories with you guys! It was super weird because it felt like I just talked with you guys last Mother’s Day, I can’t believe that was about seven months ago! Time flies! What a blessing it is to have such a wonderful family! Mom and Dad, thanks for being such incredibly amazing parents! I owe everything to you, thanks so much for the love and support you show me! I also love all of my siblings too! Thanks for being such amazing brothers and sisters! Mike and Jenna, Alyssa and soon to be Jake, Spencer, and Randon, it was so fun to talk with all of you guys! I will always be eternally grateful for each of you, and how much of an impact you’ve all had in my life. I am so grateful to say that every member of my family is my best friend! :) I’ll look forward to speaking with you guys again face to face at Mother’s Day! It will literally be just around the corner! I’m so glad we had such an amazing uplifting call!
We had our Christmas Zone Conference last Wednesday, and it was so awesome! The theme was “Faith in Jesus Christ.” It was really cool to recite “The Living Christ,” I definitely don’t have it perfected yet, but I’m still working on the latter half! Like I said last week, I’ve learned so much more about our Savior Jesus Christ from studying “The Living Christ.” It has strengthened my testimony of Him, and I’m so grateful for that! I’d strongly recommend reading and studying it! Throughout the Zone Conference, we had amazing trainings from President and Sister McMurray, and the Assistants. It was overall an amazing Zone Conference! During lunch we were given Christmas gifts, and letters from our parents with their testimonies written to us. That was so awesome to read your testimonies, thanks so much to that! Later in the conference, we had a White Elephant gift exchange! That was so fun! I ended up with a signed picture of Elder Gentry, one of my last companions! It was a nice gift to end up with. Haha. After we had a really good Zone Breakout session with the Greeley Zone, and it was awesome to apply what we learned, and to set goals! Overall a wonderful Zone Conference! I learned a lot!
Later that same day, we had Elder McFadden with us for the rest of the night and we had an amazing lesson with our investigator Billy. We were able to teach him the Restoration Of The Gospel Of Jesus Christ. The whole lesson went amazing, and the Spirit was so strong! He asked amazing questions throughout the lesson, and near the end we invited him to be baptized in January! He said he was going to pray about it and tell us his answer on Christmas when we met with him. He ended up cancelling our lesson Christmas morning, because family came to town and surprised him. We are looking forward to meeting with him this upcoming week! He told us during the lesson that he has been praying to find the truth his entire life, and we were able to promise him that God has sent us to him to bring him that truth he has been praying for! Such an amazing lesson, and the Spirit was definitely present! Billy is so amazing!
On Friday we were Weekly Planning at the institute building, and as we were walking in a man came up to us and asked us if we had jumper cables, and if we could help him jump his car. We were so glad he asked, so we drove our truck around and helped him out. We got it started in no time, and we were able to talk with him about The Book Of Mormon! He accepted a copy, and said we could come back to teach him. He told us that if his big black truck is outside, he’s home! We can’t wait to teach him! This was not a coincidence, I can assure you that. One huge thing I have seen on my mission is Heavenly Father places us in situations, or has us be in certain places to talk with certain people. It is amazing to be an instrument in our Heavenly Fathers hands to progress His work here! I know that everyone can be an instrument in His hands, as you pray for experiences and opportunities, Heavenly Father will begin to trust you to help others come unto Christ as you act upon every prompting. Going back to Elder Rasband’s talks, “Let the Holy Spirit Guide” and “By Divine Design,” we can all begin to be instruments to progress His work, as we act upon those promptings and pray for those experiences daily! If you feel like you haven’t had amazing missionary experiences, try and recognize the little opportunities and miracles each day, and record them in a journal. I’ve done this since I talked with Brother Weber, one of my favorite members from Cheyenne, on October 17th. Since that day, I’ve seen a miracle each and every day! Some days have more than one, others have one, some significantly more amazing than others, but there has been on every single day. As we recognize those promptings and act upon them, we will be able to see miracles in our everyday life! I can promise you will see miracles every day, if you learn to recognize them! I love seeing miracles daily!
Elder Hatch and I had an amazing Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day! We are at the Perry’s house, Jack Sattler’s House (our Ward Mission leaders house), and the Seamons house! It was so fun to have loving members! On Christmas Eve we went caroling with a district of missionaries in Johnstown. Only one person rejected us, but we had some awesome experiences! A non-member family invited us in and gave us cookies, apple cider, and water. They had us sing another song to them, and we talked with them for awhile. They asked where we are from, why we’re here, etc. We were able to tell them that we were missionaries, and it was such a positive experience! The sisters are going to go back and follow up with them after the holidays. I think the most impactful person we sang to was the last person on the street. As we knocked, an older man answered the door, and we sang Silent Night to him. As soon as we started to sing, you could tell he was feeling the Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus Christ was touching his heart! After we finished, he sincerely thanked us for singing to him. You could tell he was very lonely, and by himself for the holidays. It was an amazing experience to bring that Spirit to him during his time of need. Another miracle that was amazing!
Actually, just barely at Men’s Warehouse in Fort Collins, while Elder Hatch was buying a new suit for his birthday, I was writing this email when one of the workers asked me what I was doing! I told her I was writing an email, and asked me why I was writing such a long email. I explained to her that as missionaries we can only communicate to our families once a week, and FaceTime home twice a year. She was baffled, and told me a story how she was dating a Mormon guy once, but she didn’t want to convert then so she broke up with him. At the end of our conversation, I invited her to take a look at The Book Of Mormon, and to look up any questions on Mormon.org and talk with an online representative. She happily accepted a copy, and told me she would take a look! What a huge miracle! I love it! There are opportunities all around us, even in pdays!
I was studying this past week in Moroni 7, and verses 42-44 stood out to me. This verse is tied into D&C 4:5 as well. President McMurray taught this concept in Zone Conference. Those verses state,
5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.
43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.
44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.
It is interesting, the five things that qualify us for the work, all end up leading back to love. As it says we cannot have faith and hope without being meek and lowly of heart. It also says we cannot be meek and lowly without having charity, therefore all the five points of being qualified for the work leads back to being loving. Love is the key. I’ve hear this many times from Dad, President McMurray, and from the prophets. We need to love everyone as Jesus Christ loves them. It may be hard at times to do this, but it is so rewarding once we become loving! As we learn to be more loving, we will be able to develop the other Christlike attributes as well! How amazing! I would invite you all to study Moroni 7, it’s an absolutely amazing chapter! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas as I did! Love you, an have a great week!
Love
Elder Bailey
Pics:
1: an Elders nice joke suit coat, had to try it on!
2: my white elephant gift.
3-4: our Windsor Stake nativity at our investigator missionary dinner.
5: my wonderful family! :)
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