Tuesday, April 24, 2018

4/24/18 | Muddy, Slick, and Treacherous!

 What a week!  Weather was once again bipolar this week!  One day, 70’s and sunny, next day, snowy 30’s..... good stuff!  Let me tell you about how it went.
       We had a lesson with Mike this past Friday, and it went very well!  We were very lovingly bold in this lesson, and it turned out to be pretty awesome!  We asked Mike if he had discussed baptism with missionaries before us.  He said he has, so we asked him if he knew The Book Of Mormon to be the word of God, and if he has prayed to know if it is true.  He told us that he knew it was true, and that it was the word of God, no doubt!  We then asked if he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.  He didn’t fully understand why a prophet was needed, so we answered his questions and he said he totally understands now.  He also said he thought that prophets only came every once in awhile, and he had no idea that we have had prophets on the earth since Joseph Smith Restored Jesus Christ’s Church!  This was just one simple thing the missionaries had missed in the past, that the spirit guided us to explain, how amazing!  Mike then asked us why we don’t see huge miracles like the ones in the Bible anymore.  We had literally just studied this in Companionship Study a few days prior, so we knew exactly how to answer his question!  We shared with him the General Conference Talk, “Has the Day Of Miracles Ceased?”  We explained how huge miracles do still happen today, but there are also little miracles that happen every single day in our lives, we just have to recognize them.  We told him how God Loves us all so much, and blesses us daily, even when we don’t see those tiny simple miracles each day.  It was awesome!  We invited him to be baptized, and told him that he really is more prepared than he gives himself credit for!  Mike is seriously so ready, he just needs to have the faith to act!  He told us he wasn’t sure about a specific date to work towards, which is totally fine.  We invited him to come to church, continue his reading and praying, and to pray to know when a good day would be for him to get baptized!  We are following up with him this week, so we are excited to see what day he feels would be good!  The Holy Ghost was definitely present, and because we were so bold with him, we know it touched his heart!  
       Last Saturday was just full of lessons and miracles, man we can’t even put it into words of how amazing last Saturday was!!  Our first bomb lesson was with Paul.  We had Brother Wall come with us to this lesson, and to our surprise Paul’s Brother Marshall happened to be there again when we came!  Miracle!  After talking for a few minutes, we started with a prayer, then we talked about 1 Nephi 4 when Nephi slays Laban.  Paul told us he had been discussing that chapter with Marshall before we got there.  We discussed why the Lord needed Laban to die, and that went very well!  After that little discussion about Paul’s reading, we asked Paul where he wanted us to start off since Marshall was here.  He said just from the beginning, so we had Paul tell Marshall a little summary of what he knew about The Restoration, and it was amazing to see Paul teach his brother about what he had learned.  We then taught him the whole lesson, and Marshall had some really good questions.  Man was the Spirit so strong in that lesson!  At the end, we promised Paul and Marshall that they could gain greater happiness than they have ever experienced for themselves and their families if they needed upon The Gospel Of Jesus Christ and this message.  Paul had the biggest smile on his face as we told them this, it was absolutely amazing!  Brother Wall also came in clutch testifying of how the gospel has blessed his family!  So good!  We are excited to teach Marshall and continue to go help them both come closer to Jesus Christ, and help their families feel His love for them!  Our ward mission leader and his wife had Paul’s family over for dinner last Sunday, so they are coming in clutch too!  Too good!
       Our next bomb lesson was with Jeremiah.  We brought Brother Woolery, a recent convert of four years.  He was a perfect fit for Jeremiah, and they talked about cars with each other.  We taught Jeremiah about The Plan of Salvation, and he understood everything we taught him. He had great questions, and loved to know he can be with his little boy forever!  We explained how important it is to have the Gift of the Holy Ghost with us while we are on the earth.  We talked about the importance of baptism, and he had a questions about priesthood authority.  We explained to him what he had missed our first lesson, and he totally understood why he needs to be baptized.  We then invited him to be baptized on June 9th, and to work towards that date, and he said he would love to have that goal!  And to continue to do what he needs to to find out if The Book Of Mormon is the word of God!  The Spirit was so strong in this lesson!  Jeremiah is so awesome!  He is going to continue to read, pray, and come to church.  He came this past Sunday, because he got his truck fixed, and he had his six month old baby with him for all three hours!  What a trooper!  The ward rallied around him, loved him, and fellowshipped him way good!  Can’t wait to see Jeremiah continue to progress!  
       We were able to meet with Bob, and lay it all on the table.  We told him that we wanted to start from scratch, and teach him from square one.  We are committed to help him receive his answer, and invite him to do the things necessary to gain one.  If he doesn’t keep commitments, than we’ll have to part ways, because he isn’t ready..... but we are hoping this works!  We are going to continue to pray that he will do the things necessary to gain that testimony!  Bob came to church as well, and he liked it too.  Glad he came!  
       We had a bit of a crazy Sunday.  Our ward got a new bishopric, and a ton of other changes happened too!  We are excited to work with the new bishopric, and help the missionary work progress within the Wellington Ward!  After church we changed out of our suits and headed up to visit less active members in Red Feather Lakes, a boonie town up in the mountains in our area.  We had dinner up there Sunday night, so we decided it would be best to visit people up there while we would be up there anyways!  We had some good contacts with a bunch of less active members!  We were going to head to dinner, which was more north than Red Feather Lakes, so we decided to take a back-way to their house, which ended up being a dirt mountain road vs. the paved longer route we could have taken.  We felt confident we were going to make it safely, and see some beautiful country off the beaten path.  It had snowed an inch the day before, but it had melted off pretty fast and was warm.  Note: All the dirt roads we had been on previously to visit all of the members were dry in the sunny patches.  We took off in this scenic dirt road, and it was some beautiful country on the way to dinner!  Near the end of our nice drive to dinner however, we started going on some north facing slopes or shaded parts of the dirt road.  It soon became very very muddy..... we are driving a Nissan Rogue, which is pretty good off-road, except it is all wheel drive, and the “all wheel” part of the equation doesn’t kick in until it is too late.... anyways, we started to go on this muddy part.  It had big ruts in the road, slick mud everywhere, and we were sliding like crazy!  I remember my dad telling me to never stop on a really muddy or sandy road because then you will sink and be stuck.... so we pressed forward and didn’t stop!  We were praying the whole time that we would make it safely to dinner, and we did!  Heavenly Father helped us make it, and I’m sure glad he did.  We were in the middle of nowhere!! Man that would have been a long walk to dinner, with no cell service...... you may be asking, “Elder Bailey, why are you telling this story of you and your companion not making the smartest decision?”  Haha, well, let me tell you!  I had thought of a little analogy from our experience on the muddy roads, so here it is!  

Even though our roads may be muddy, slick, and treacherous at times, as we follow Heavenly Father, and the Savior and His Gospel, we will be guided to stay on the right path, but it is only by and through them that we can do so!  We need to follow them as well as we can, to stay in the covenant path leading back to live in their presence again someday!  All of our roads are slick at times. Sometimes we don’t know if we are going to get stuck or slide off the roads, but we cannot stop and be idle and complacent!  We have to keep moving forward, we have to keep doing the little simple things (daily scripture study & prayer, attending church & the temple etc.) to strengthen our testimonies and to follow Him.  As we do these things, and as we live a guided life, we will remain on the path and continue on in safety until we meet Heavenly Father and our Savior again someday!  

       I thought it was a pretty cool analogy, and I hope you guys enjoyed it!  A little scripture insight I found while studying this week came from 2 Nephi 19:12,17,21.  In all of these verses, there is a phrase repeated in each one that I’d like to share.  

“...For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”

       Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will never forget us!  Through His everlasting Atonement He performed, He absolutely cannot Forget us!  His hand is stretched out yesterday, today, and forever!  We can repent each and every day, because of Him.  I love my Savior, and I feel that I have grown closer to Him as I labor in His vineyard every day.  We can all get closer to Him as we labor within His vineyard!  We are all laboring side by side with Him, remember He is always with us!  I am grateful for each of you, and I hope you have a fantastic week!  

Love,
Elder Bailey


Pics:  
1. Saw this scout ranch.  Had to stop and salute, Eagles Nest for life!
2. Nice mountain pic! Haha
3. Colorado Rockies

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