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!!
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