1/30/18 | Celebrities on Facebook!

   I found out this past weekend that my friend Cameron’s dad passed away.  This was a huge shock!  I definitely did not expect that news.  I love Cameron so much!  He is serving his mission right now in South Africa, and is such a great missionary and an amazing friend!  I know that Heavenly Father is comforting him and his family as they go through this hard time, and that The Plan of Salvation helps us know that we will see loved ones again.  I can testify that Cameron and the Keetch family will see their father again!  Please keep him and his family in your prayers!  

        This last week in Wellington was great!  We saw a lot of success, and we were able to teach a lot of people!  As it says in the title of my email, Elder Burke and I are celebrities here in Wellington from this past week!  We Tracted a lot, and on Sunday in Ward Council a member of our ward told us that people were talking about us on the towns Facebook page.  The lady posted something that said, “Latter Day Saint missionaries knocking on my door at 7:15 p.m., isn’t that suspicious?”  It was the talk of the town apparently, and the ward loved it!  Here in Wellington, people go to bed and the town dies at 7, so it has been difficult to do missionary work from 7-9 since we’ve gotten here.  One day we decided to tract, and apparently people thought we were suspicious!  Haha, the ward tried to find the comment on the Facebook page, but it had been deleted by the admin, so I don’t have a picture to prove it..... but it was actually kind of nice of that lady to post that.  It helped build some more ward trust in us, showing them that we are here to do the work!  

        We were able to teach Bird, one of our Investigators, last Tuesday night.  Unexpectedly her brother, JJ, joined us for the lesson.  We were able to teach them both about The Restoration, and it went pretty well!  JJ talked a lot, and kinda overpowered Bird throughout the lesson so she didn’t get too involved while we taught, but the Spirit was present and we were able to testify of the truthfulness of our message!  They both committed to read from The Book Of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, so we have another lesson with them tonight.  We are hoping they were able to read and pray, it should be awesome!  Can’t wait to teach them tonight!  

        Our lesson with Bob went really well!  It had to get pushed back due to some stuff that came up.  He read and we went over a lot of his questions about The Book Of Mormon reading.  He has deep, very specific questions, so answering them all took of the whole time we were able to meet with him.  We weren’t able to teach the lesson we had prepared about Baptism and Confirmation, but honestly we think that was supposed to happen.  Bob also came to church this past week, and after Gospel Principles class, he asked the teacher about Priesthood Authority.  (That is his only hang up about being baptized, so we are going to talk with him tomorrow when we teach him about it.)  He stood out in the hall for the rest of third hour and talked with the teacher and another member about Priesthood Authority, so we are hoping they helped him understand it more!  Now when we go over it this week we will see how that conversation went with those members.  One of the reasons he has trouble with this topic is because he was raised and baptized in the R-LDS church, so he thinks they have authority as well as us...... we are going to address this tomorrow.  He is so close, and is honestly a pretty much a “dry Mormon” so to speak.  We pray we can help him understand it more through teaching by the power of the Holy Ghost!

        We had a lesson with Mike yesterday that went pretty well too!  He said he didn’t have time to read from The Book Of Mormon because of his new dog that is taking up all of his time, but we were able to teach him about the importance of reading and praying about The Book Of Mormon to gain a testimony.  He told us he has a desire to learn more, and he knows The Book Of Mormon is true, but he wants to attend a baptismal service and church before he commits to a baptismal date.  Sounds easy enough right?  But the hang up is his incredibly fuzzy little dog that he just got...... who knew a dog would halt someone’s progress.  He said he can’t come to church for three hours because the new dog can’t be left alone.  We are praying that he can find a way to be able to leave his dog for three hours to let him attend church, and we know that the Lord will provide a way!  We know he will get baptized, but it may take some time.  He is an amazing guy!

         We had Zone Conference this past week, and the main focus was on Repentance.  It was a really uplifting and powerful meeting!  I love it when President McMurray focuses on “Daily Repentance.”  I know that repenting daily is essential to having the spirit with us!  As we are grateful for Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, and if we utilize his everlasting Atonement as much as we can daily, we will be blessed for it!  I am trying to do this, but it is actually really hard.  Sometimes I forget, and other things get in the way, but when I do it is amazing!  I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atoning sacrifice for each and every one of us!  Through him we can live with our Heavenly Father once more, and see the blessings that come, and the immense joy that we can feel as we repent!  What a miracle and a blessing that Heavenly Father has provided us with this Great and Eternal Gift!    

         Like I said before, Elder Burke and I had a great time Tracting a lot this past week!  We found a bunch of potential investigators to teach, and have return appointments with them this upcoming week!  We did have an experience that sheds some light on how the people of Wellington go to sleep at 7:00.  We were Tracting, and as we knocked in a door, a man yelled at us through it and told us to go away.  We thanked him, and when we were two houses away he came out of his house and yelled at us some more.  He told us that nobody wants to hear our message about Jesus Christ, and that we should just go home.  We politely assured him that people do want to hear our message, and that God loves him.  He just stormed back into his house after our exchange, but all I could do was smile.  Every day we hear people reject our message.  Every day people are rude or mean to us.  However, every day we find someone who wants to listen, this is what makes it all worth it.  Like in D&C 18:10 it states, “Remember the ​​​worth​ of ​​​souls​ is great in the sight of God;”  This is so true!  When we share the Gospel, some may reject us, but when people listen and accept that message it is amazing to feel the love of God for that specific child of God!  This is why I love Tracting!  It is hard work to find “the one!”  

           I was studying in 1 Nephi 13, and this is now one of my favorite chapters in The Book Of Mormon!  This chapter is when Nephi is seeing a vision of our day.  In verses 34-41 it talks about The Restoration.  I would encourage you all to read this!  I know that The Book Of Mormon is the word of God, that it restored plain and simple truths that the Bible had lost, and that it helps us come closer to Jesus Christ!  What a miracle and a blessing it is to have The Book Of Mormon, to read, ponder, and study from each and every day!  I hope that we all utilize and make The Book Of Mormon, and reading it daily, a big priority in our lives.  It will bless you, and help you feel immense joy!  I hope that you guys have a great week, thanks for being such an amazing family!  Thanks for all the support! I’m grateful for you guys, and pray for you daily! :)

Love, 

Elder Bailey 

Pics:

1. Friendly doors in Wellington!

2-3. Zone Conference this past week!

1/23/18 | Miracles!

 We’ve seen a bunch of different miracles this past week as we’ve been serving here in the Wellington Ward!  It has been so awesome!  Elder Burke and I are doing great.  The members in our ward are so awesome!  We get fed every night, and we’ve loved all of the members we’ve gotten to know here.  It snowed this past Sunday, and we had to drive down to our church building pretty early for P.E.C and the roads were pretty slippery!  It was a little sketchy driving, but we made it safely.  I’m grateful Heavenly Father is always watching out for us!  

       We were able to meet with Bob again this past week.  He read what he committed to read, from Jacob 2 to Enos.  He wrote down all the questions he had, and we talked in depth about all of his questions.  It ended up being a really long conversation, and he loved how well we were helping him understand the scriptures!  We asked him if he felt like he was strengthening his testimony in The Book Of Mormon, and he said he thought he was gaining more knowledge, but would never say if he had gained that testimony.  Just for a reminder, he was raised in the R-LDS Church and read from The Book Of Mormon as a child, so we think he is regaining that testimony he once had!  He wasn’t able to make it to church this past Sunday due to the snow, but we’re hoping to help him continue to progress!  

        We finally got in contact with a man named Mike yesterday, and had a great lesson with him!  He has been investigating the church for awhile now, and has had a bunch of different sets of missionaries.  We got to know him, and talked with him about what he has learned from the missionaries.  He said that he had been reading with them, and had gotten to Omni.  We decided it would be best to read with him.  We were able to read Omni, and afterwards we asked him if he had a testimony that The Book Of Mormon is true.  He replied that he agrees with everything he has read, and feels it in his heart that it is true.  It was so amazing to hear his testimony of The Book Of Mormon, and the Spirit was very strong as he spoke.  We invited him to continue to read, and we set a specific time each Monday to meet with him weekly, so we can’t wait to help him progress!  He said he won’t be able to make it to church this Sunday, but he has a really strong desire to come!  We’ll get him there on following Sunday’s!  What a blessing it was to finally meet with Mike!  He’s awesome!

        We also visited another investigator named Bird, and we have a lesson with her tonight!  The past missionaries met her at a gas station, and she asked them who they were.  She accepted a copy of The Book Of Mormon when we talked with her last week, and we can’t wait to teach her a lesson!  So many blessing happening up her in Wellington!  

        Elder Burke and I went Tracting from 1:45-5:00 and from 6:45-7:45 on Saturday, and we saw a lot of success!  First off, I keep a Tracting notebook and it’s super fun to see how many doors we’ve Tracted out in each area.  The last record for how many doors my companion and I have Tracted in one day was 101 with Elder Tippetts in Cheyenne, and we tried to Tract all day, but got caught up helping other missionaries, so we only made it to 101.  Elder Burke and I blew that last one out of the water and got 121 in a single day!  We are making each Saturday from now on “Tracting Day” and we’re going to push to find more people to teach!  We can’t wait to do this!  I love Tracting!  Anyways, we met a lot of great people while we were out on Saturday.  The most amazing one was Paul.  When Paul answered his door, a pair of dogs came out and we asked him if they were his hunting dogs.  He said they were, and we played with them for a little bit.  After they were put back inside, he stepped out to talk with us.  He told us he was Baptist, and has talked with Jehovah Witness’s before.  He said he believed in God and Jesus Christ as his Savior.  Then he asked us “What sets you guys apart from the others?”  We replied and testified to him that we have a living prophet on the earth today, like the prophets of old who received revelation to guide us through these troubling times.  This truly intrigued Paul, and we could tell he could feel the Spirit as we testified of truth.  He followed up with more questions, and it led us to teaching him about The Restoration.  He was very intrigued about The Book Of Mormon as well.  He accepted a copy, and told us he would read it!  We are going back to teach him more tomorrow, we can’t wait!  We could literally see the spirit touching him and softening his countenance.  The Holy Ghost is so real it’s amazing!  We have some other good potentials as well from Tracting all day.  We’re excited that Heavenly Father is blessing us with more people to teach!  What miracles we’ve seen this past week!  

        I had another great week of studying The Book Of Mormon of course!  I started a new study in a fresh Hardcover copy of The Book Of Mormon.  I’m focusing my study on three Christlike attributes, Patience, Charity, and Humility.  It has been awesome to start my study so far, and I’m excited to have different insight and learn more!  One trait that stood out to me was how willing and humble Nephi, Lehi, and Joseph Smith are.  In the front of The Book Of Mormon, in the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, Joseph explains after he tried to work with his father, he was returning home and collapsed while trying to cross a fence.  He was again visited by the angel Moroni, and Moroni commanded him to tell everything that he had been told to his father.  Joseph Smith follows with this statement,  

“I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed the whole matter to him.”  

       Nephi and Lehi had other examples that I read as well.  These prophets are such amazing examples to me of how we can be more Humble and willing to submit to the will of our Heavenly Father.  I pray that we all try to be like these amazing men and try and become more faithful servants of our Heavenly Father!  I hope you all have a great week!  Thanks for all you do in hastening the work of the Lord!  Love you!

Love,

Elder Bailey 

       

Pics

1 (Sorry only one this week): We round this nice “Schlumberger” oil field company in Wellington, and we just had to take a pic.  We asked some guys in jumpsuits what that meant and they made it sound like a French word.  So we have no idea what these guys do, maybe just make those nice machines displayed outside..... haha

1/16/18 | First week in Wellington!

 This past week was awesome!  I’m writing this so late, because we just had our Temple Trip!  I love to attend the temple!  I wish we could attend it more often, but we’re blessed to attend it as regularly as we do.  I realized what a blessing it is to have temples in our lives.  I would definitely encourage you guys to try and attend regularly, because it will be such a blessing in your life if you do make that commitment!  Life is super busy and quite hectic at times, but if we find and set apart a little time to do the best things, we will be blessed tremendously!  What an amazing temple trip!

       Companionship Update!!! My new companions name is Elder Burke, and he is from California.  He’s such a great guy, and I can’t wait for the time we have together to get to work here in the Wellington Ward!  He has a desire to be here, and wants to do the best he can to be a good missionary, so it has been awesome!  It was kinda crazy getting set up the first day in the new apartment, because we had to do a deep clean from the Elders before..... but we cleaned it up in no time!  Now it feels like home, so that is awesome!  

        From the first day until now, we have been working very hard to contact as many investigators in the area book as possible!  We have met some amazing people here so far, and there is a lot of potential!  One of the most promising investigators so far was Bob.  We first met Bob on our second day here, and got to know him very well!  We got on the topic of President Monson passing away, and that his funeral was the next day.  Bob asked if we wanted to watch it with him, so we did!  It was really an amazing funeral, and it was awesome to hear from our beloved apostles.  Bob really enjoyed hearing from them too, and it was amazing to feel the Spirit as we watched.  After we watched President Monson’s funeral, Bob told us all of his questions and concerns about the church, and what he has been struggling with.  We helped him understand more about our religion, and answered his questions the best we could.  He was baptized in the Community of Christ church (r-lds) and has concerns about priesthood authority.  It was interesting to hear his concerns.  He offered to feed us breakfast on Saturday morning and to have a lesson afterwards, so we thought of what we could do to help answer his concerns.  We decided that the best thing for us to do was to go back to The Book Of Mormon, and focus on building his testimony there first, then the rest would come!  It was an incredible breakfast, made by Bob and his mother, and the lesson actually topped the yummy food!  We read Jacob 2 with him, where he was currently at in his reading, and we went slowly and explained every question verse by verse.  By the end, Bob shared with us how much he loved that we went slow, explained the simple truths that were being taught, and helped him understand the scriptures better.  We invited him to read the rest of Jacob, and to write down any question either about a verse or a topic that is mentioned so we could help him find an answer when we came next Wednesday, and we also invited him to come to church!  This is when the big miracle happened!  He opened up to us and told us he was just about to tell the missionaries that he was done meeting with them.  They had been showing a lot of love, but kept their expectations low throughout their time meeting with him.  This is what we call the “buddy zone”, where not much progression happens.  Bob told us he didn’t feel like he was progressing anymore, and that it wasn’t worth his time to just “be friends” with the missionaries.  That’s not a bad thing to become friends, but he wants to learn a ton!  He said he could tell that we were going to push him hard, and help him gain a testimony of The Book Of Mormon!  This made us so happy!  He said that he could tell Elder Burke and I were dedicated and truly loved being missionaries and helping others progress and learn.  This was one of the greatest compliments he could have told us!  He accepted both commitments, and said he was excited again to learn more and progress!  Him being excited, made us both excited, and we were just so happy the rest of the day!  What a HUGE miracle!  Bob came to church on Sunday, and loved it too.  He will be progressing more and more, can’t wait to teach him again!  

       We went Tracting for Elder Burke’s first time, and it was awesome!  We got doors slammed in our faces, people politely telling us to get away from them, and some slightly interested people!  And on top of that, it has been super cold the past couple of days, so I helped this nice Californian experience some nice cold weather while Tracting!  It was a good time!  I’m grateful I have warm clothes, thanks mom and dad! :)

       We have a bunch of appointments set for this upcoming  week for all of our investigators here in Wellington.  There is a lot to work with, let me tell you.  We had a wonderful meeting with a girl named Jodie, and she expressed to us how she felt like she will never “fit in” within the church.  We talked with her for awhile about how we need diverse people to make the church better!  We are having the relief society and members of the ward help fellowship her, so we hope it will help!  

       All of the members in our ward who we have eaten with so far have been so amazing!  Last Sunday there was a ward potluck dinner, and it was awesome to get to meet everyone.  We think they are starting to like us, so that’s good!  We had dinner with the Knott’s family last night, and we had a great long conversation about hunting.  These are my kind of people!  Haha.  Our ward mission leader, Brother Whittier, is so missionary minded!  Him and his wife are so awesome!  We’ve met with him twice already, and are meeting weekly.  We can tell it is going to be an awesome missionary work based ward! Can’t wait to build up the work here in Wellington!  

       Our sacrament meeting and church this past Sunday was amazing!  We had ward conference, and the focus was missionary work and ministering to the one.  We think it will help the ward become more missionary minded, and help people give us referral’s!  President Foster, the Fort Collins Stake President, spoke and had an amazing talk about a WW2 soldier. It talked about a lds soldier, who fought in the battle of the bulge.  While his tank mates and other crew members went out at night and partied with the French people, he stayed in the tank “between the treads.”  A lot of his tank mates died doing this, and he was protected because he stayed “between the treads” of his tank.  He related this to how it is so important to go to the temple, read The Book Of Mormon daily, and do the little things that will help us “stay between the treads.”  It was an amazing talk!  I loved the analogy.

       We had trainers meeting on Monday, and we rode up to Cheyenne with President McMurray and some other missionaries.  It was a blast!  We were able to see Elder Tippetts, Elder Judd, Elder Littlewood, and a bunch of our other friends from the mission!  It was uplifting and I have a lot to apply to become the best trainer for my Elder Burke as I possibly can!  I can’t wait to apply what I learned.  

       I was studying in Moroni 10 this past week, and verses 4-7 really stood out to me!  They state:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is.

7 And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.

        This is honestly one of the most important promises that we have in our lives!  This doesn’t just apply to non-members of the church who are seeking an answer, it applies to everyone!  Born in the church, recent convert, less active, investigator, young, old, etc.  If anyone is seeking diligently for an answer to their prayers, if The Book Of Mormon is the word of god, then you will receive an answer!  Some of the most important aspect of this gospel is knowing that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he performed the Atonement for us, and knowing that The Book Of Mormon is true.  You can gain a strong testimony of both as you truly study The Book Of Mormon, and pray to ask Heavenly Father if it is true.  I would invite you all to heed upon this promise!  It will help you so much in your life, and strengthen your testimony.  I hope you all have a great week!  Love you!

Love

Elder Bailey 

Pics:

1-3: temple trip!

4: some guy came around and gave us free milk!  Lets goooo!!

1/9/18 | Goodbye Greeley!

This week has been a pretty good one!  It was sad to hear that our dear beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson died Tuesday night.  That made me really sad.  We found out Wednesday morning, and I had a lot of time to think about it.  He was an incredible man, had such a powerful spirit, and he was truly a disciple of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  I’m grateful for his example to me, especially his example of being “on the Lord’s Errand.”  Throughout my mission, I have learned a little about heeding upon spiritual promptings.  President Monson has to be one of the greatest examples of this that I know of!  It was always amazing to hear those incredible stories of him following promptings and helping people every day!  As I’ve thought of him this past week, my mind continues to go back to his final General Conference talk that he gave in the April 2017 General Conference, titled “The Power Of The Book Of Mormon.”  This talk has to be one of the most powerful talks ever given, but it is also the shortest.  One of my most favorite quotes from this talk was about gaining a testimony, it states:

“It is essential for you to have your own testimony in these difficult times, for the testimonies of others will carry you only so far. However, once obtained, a testimony needs to be kept vital and alive through continued obedience to the commandments of God and through daily prayer and scripture study.” 

       I would invite each of you to go and study this wonderful powerful talk, and think of how big of a role The Book Of Mormon plays in your everyday life.  It is true, and I can testify that it is!  Each of us can receive a testimony of its truthfulness, as we put forth the effort!  Whenever I think of President Monson, these words come to my mind.  “We thank thee O God for a Prophet, to guide us in these latter days...”  what a huge blessing it is to have modern day prophets.  The world will miss President Monson, but he is now reunited with his beloved wife and family, but it is comforting to know that the priesthood is still restored onto the earth, and will be manifested by our next prophet!  What a huge blessing!  

       We found out about transfers this past Saturday, which are tomorrow, and I am being transferred to Wellington Colorado.  It is just north of Fort Collins.  I don’t know who my companion is, because I’m training a brand new missionary!  We are meeting him tonight, so that should be fun!  I was a little sad that I was leaving Greeley, here in the Glenmere Ward, because of how much work and success we have seen, but I know that the Lord needs me to be in Wellington at this time!  I’m excited to be able to come back to the Baptisms that we will have later in the month for Tom and Isaiah, so that will still be fun to see those happen!  It will be sad leaving Elder Hatch, we’ve gotten along so well, but I do trust in the Lord that Wellington is where I’m meant to be!  I’m grateful for the friendships that I’ve made here on my mission, they will be lasting ones for sure!  It’s crazy to think that I’ve been here in Greeley for the past three months, time just absolutely flies by!  

        We had three amazing lessons with Tom this past week.  He is the investigator who was invited to church by a friend, and we talked with him after church last week and set up a time to meet with him!  We met with him on Wednesday, Saturday, and Monday.  We taught him the Restoration on Wednesday, and it was so powerful!  As we recited the first vision to him, he was amazed at how incredible that was, for God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to visit a young boy to answer his prayer!  We invited him to read from The Book Of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, and he excitedly accepted the hard cover copy we gave him!  It was amazing to promise him that he would receive an answer to his prayers.  I love bearing my testimony to everyone that they can receive answers to prayer, because Heavenly Father loves us so much! At our next meeting, we followed up on how his reading has been going, and Tom had read through 1 Nephi 14!  He is so committed to learn, it’s so amazing!  That lesson we discussed what he had read so far, and we read 1 Nephi 15 with him, and broke it down so he could understand it better.  He was able to understand and learn so much!  He loved it!  He told us he wanted to try and break it down and learn from each chapter more.  We invited him to continue to read, and to come to church the next day.  He was definitely at church!  He loves the people, loves the classes, and loves Sacrament Meeting!  Our Ward Mission Leader, Jack Sattler, is such an amazing fellowshipper!  Tom loves being around him and other members of the ward!  Our lesson in Gospel Principles was on “Exaltation,” but Tom wasn’t fazed by it.  He soaked up all the information, and asks really good questions.  Jack Sattler did a great job teaching the lesson, and tied a lot of it into the Plan of Salvation.  Our next lesson on Monday was amazing as well.  He had read a few more chapters, and had written a little summary of each chapter he read to help him understand it better.  We taught him The Plan of Salvation, and explained a little more in detail what we had talked about the past two weeks in Gospel Principles.  The lesson went very well, and he understands it amazingly!  He saw that people had these big quad scriptures at church, and told us he wanted one.  We showed him where he could find it on Deseret Book, and bought it on the spot!  Those things aren’t cheap, and he bought it right then and there!  That is how golden and amazing Tom is!  What a blessing it is to teach him!  He expressed to us how grateful he is for the two of us, Elder Hatch and I.  He keeps telling us that we have been a huge blessing in his life, and he is grateful that we have taught him about the Restored Gospel.  We expressed to him how grateful we were for him, and told him that he is the kind of investigator missionaries dream of teaching!  He loved that.  I told him that I was getting transferred, but that I will still be there at his baptism.  He was pretty sad, but was happy to hear that I was able to come back for his baptism!  Can’t wait for him to be a member of this true church!  What a blessing it is to have met Tom!  

        We have been working with Isaiah Lopez and their family, and this past Sunday was the third time in a row they have come to church!  What a huge miracle!  Isaiah still wants to get baptized, and his parents are still coming each week.  It is such a blessing that they are staying committed! 

        One of my past companions, Elder Gentry, went home this past weekend.  It’s crazy to think I was with him six months ago, and him going home was so far away!  Now it’s past, but he stayed with us his last night, so that was fun to talk with him and be with him his last night!  He was a great example to me of how I can be a better missionary!  We’ll miss him!  

        While I was on exchanges with Elder Garcia this past week, we were walking from the church to go visit potential investigators before dinner.  These two young kids were running and we were able to speak with them at the stop light before crossing a main road.  We taught them about The Book Of Mormon, and invited them to read and pray to know if it is true!  They both accepted a copy and they continued to run off until they went out of sight.  I love speaking with everyone, and spreading the gospel as a missionary.  What a wonderful opportunity it is to have this time to experience sharing the gospel 24/7 for two years!  I love it!

        I was studying in Moroni this past week, and in Chapter 9 something stood out to me.  In Moroni 9:6 it states:

“6 And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.”

        I pray that we are laboring diligently day by day to continue to grow our faith in Jesus Christ, The Book Of Mormon, and His Restored Gospel here onto the earth.  I’m grateful everyday for the opportunity I have to share that wonderful message, and to help others find that happiness that I’ve had my entire life!  I hope that we all will study The Book Of Mormon daily, and learn more about Jesus Christ.  I know that if you do, your testimony will strengthen!  Mine has!  I hope you all have a wonderful week this week!  I love you!

Love

Elder Bailey 

Pics:

1-2: MLC this past week!

3: Tom our investigator.

1/2/18 | Happy New Year! Can't believe it's 2018!!

  It has been such a great week, full of miracles!  It is so weird that it is 2018!  2018 seems so far away when I started my mission, but time flies when you are absolutely LOVING it out here, finding people to teach and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  I’m so grateful to be a missionary!

       We had interviews with President McMurray this past week, and they went amazing!  I had some doctrinal questions I had from my studies, as well as some questions about receiving answers to prayers.  We had a really good conversation about all of my questions, and President was able to answer all of them.  He’s such an incredible guy, I’m so grateful that I have him as my Mission President!  

       We went on two different exchanges this past week as well, one with the Peak View Elders and one with the Yuma Elders.  I was with Elder Young for our first exchange, and we had a great day!  Elder Young is an amazing missionary, so we had a good time finding people to teach!  We were Tracting right before dinner, and it was honestly super freezing!  I think it was hovering in single digits, but we were definitely blessed for Tracting in those conditions!  (Btw all of the warm cloths I got helped a ton mom and dad:). For some reason we felt inclined to tract a specific street close to where our dinner was at, so we went forth and tracted that street!  We ran into a less active member who wasn’t even on our records!  It’s crazy how often that happens honestly, but Heavenly Father guides us to find his sheep who have lost their way.  We talked with her and asked if we could come back and teach her, and she said she would have to ask her boyfriend first, but to try back in two weeks to see.  What a miracle!  We were pretty numb by the end of us Tracting, but it was all worth it!  For the other exchange we went out to Yuma, Colorado for the day.  We thought it would be good to check in on them, because they are about two hours outside of Greeley.  We went out there and Weekly Planned with them, then I was able to go with Elder Valentine.  We came out at the same time and we served around each other in Cheyenne, so it was fun to catch up with him!  Yuma is quite the place........ a little town out in the middle of nowhere Colorado, but it was a great time!  One miracle we saw was while we were contacting a potential investigator.  Her husband let us in and we talked with him for a little bit.  We were able to teach him about The Book Of Mormon, and we gave him a copy.  He told us that we could come back to teach him and his wife, who only speaks Spanish.  So the Yuma Elders are going to bring a member who speaks Spanish with them, and go and teach them!  How amazing!  I love it when Heavenly Father sends us those who are ready to teach, it is absolutely incredible!  The drive there and back was a little long..... but overall we had a great exchange out in the boonies!  

       Elder Hatch and I received a referral from some sister missionaries to go visit a man named Rodger, and they told us he was interested in learning more!  We were super excited, so we went to contact him.  He let us into his home, and the first thing he told us was that he was a minister...... then it got interesting!  We had a talk for about an hour, about things he thought we believed.  He tried to Bible Bash us the whole time as well.  This is probably the most calm and composed I’ve ever been with a Bible basher! He started throwing in little jabs to us, but we calmly corrected him and testified.  Every single time he tried to Bible bash, all we did was calmly correct him on what we believe, and testify.  He wanted to argue, but all we did was testify.  It literally shut him down and he didn’t know what to do........ it was nice being able to testify and not argue about points in the Bible and doctrine we believe!  Near the end we again invited him to sincerely read from The Book Of Mormon and pray to know if it is true.  We hope someday he does willingly, with an open heart.  This experience made me so grateful for The Book Of Mormon.  It simply clarifies what the Bible teaches, helps us come closer to our Savior, and helps us gain a testimony of His Restored gospel that was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith.  What a blessing and miracle it is to have The Book Of Mormon today!  I’m so grateful for it!  I pray that each of us will remain grateful for that amazing gift of The Book Of Mormon and the “great vicarious gift” of our Savior Jesus Christ! 

        At church this past week, we had five investigators come!  What a huge miracle!  We’ve seen Heavenly Father bless us as we’ve put in the work in this area, and now we are starting to see the benefits!  We have three investigators on date for January, so I can’t wait to see their Baptisms!  The amount of success we’ve seen in the Glenmere Ward the past transfer is amazing!  This is the most success I’ve seen anywhere in my mission, what a blessing!  One of the investigators at church was Tom.  Yesterday was Tom’s first time at church, and he was brought by a member from the Spanish Branch.  Yesterday was our first time meeting him, and he stayed for all three hours.  He expressed genuine interest in learning more, so after church we scheduled a time to meet with him on Wednesday.  It was amazing, because he had a ton of people coming up to meet him, especially our Ward Mission Leader Jack Sattler!  Jack took Tom under his wing, and helped him feel so comfortable.  I’m convinced that Jack is the best Ward Mission Leader in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission!  He is a convert of about a year and a half, and he comes out with us one night a week.  He told us the other day that he loves coming out with us, because he never had a chance to serve a mission, so he feels like now is his chance.  So cool!  Anyways, we can’t wait to meet with Tom this week!  We’re hoping to set him on date for baptism!  

        Yesterday we were finding less actives, and as we were walking away from one house, we looked to the next door neighbors house, and immediately felt like we needed to knock.  We did, and Rachel answered the door.  She said she has talked to missionaries before, but hasn’t ever heard about The Book Of Mormon.  We taught her about it, and she was intrigued by it.  She accepted a copy, and wants us to come back to teach her more!  How amazing!  I love how the Spirit tells us and guides us where to go.  I have had so many amazing spiritual experiences on my mission where I literally feel like we’re on the Lord’s Errand. I think it is because I’m learning to recognize miracles and spiritual promptings throughout the day.  What a blessing it has been to learn more about being a “Spiritual First Responder!” I’m continuing to learn that each day.  In Elder Rasband’s talk from April 2017 General Conference titled, “Let The Holy Spirit Guide,” he states this,

“Third, we must recognize the Spirit when it comes.

My experience has been that the Spirit most often communicates as a feeling. You feel it in words that are familiar to you, that make sense to you, that prompt you.”

       I love this talk, it’s one of my all time favorites!  As we learn the voice of the Spirit, and act upon the first promptings, we will be blessed!  I’d like to invite you guys to think about the miracles you’ve seen in your life and listen strive to the voice of the Spirit everyday!  If you feel as if you haven’t seen any miracles, then I’d invite you to start striving to recognize the many miracles and blessings that Heavenly Father has given you.  I can solemnly testify to you that Heavenly Father has blessed each of us with miracles in our everyday lives!  They are there, we just have to recognize them!  I hope each of you has a great week!  

Love,

Elder Bailey 

     


Pics

1. Zone Conference last week!  (Sorry, didn’t take any other pictures this week....)