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....)
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