This week has been another great one as always! Even though there were some super tough spots, it is always an amazing week serving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! Last Saturday we found out about transfers, and I’m actually getting transferred! Crazy right!? I was only in the Casper 9th Ward for a transfer, but I know that the people we found to teach were meant to be found by us, and they will be “harvested” by other missionaries! I will be going just across Casper to the Casper 6th Ward and my new companion is Elder Williamson! It was pretty ironic, because we have been living with them for this past transfer, so I don’t have to move anything! Blessings! I am sad that I only got to spend one transfer with Elder Trumbo (he is headed down to Longmont Colorado), but that’s okay because I know that Heavenly Father needs me to be in the Casper 6th Ward next transfer, and it will be great because I’m already good friends with Elder Williamson! We can’t wait to hit the ground running this Wednesday!! Another twist to this next transfer is that I am now going to be in a biking area! This is the first one of my mission! I’ve been so blessed to have a car, but now it is time to get to work! Elder Williamson and I aren’t going to worry about biking around, we are going to spend every day on foot! It will be super amazing! This will push me until the very end, and I’m so excited that Heavenly Father has blessed me to be in a biking area now! Can’t wait for this next transfer!
Honestly we did have an amazing week! We were out Street Contacting Wednesday night and we were talking to a lot of people, it was so awesome! At about 8:40 we were walking towards a park and saw an older man playing fetch with his dog. We walked up to him and introduced ourselves. He said he had spoken with us two night previous on Monday night of last week, and then we finally remembered who he was! I don’t know if I mentioned this in my last weekly email, but we ran into a man Street Contacting two Monday’s ago, and ran into an older guy with his dog in front of his house. He said we could come back, so we wrote down his address. This was the same guy, and this time we got his name! His name is Ray. We got to know him better, and he told us that his dad was a member of the church, but was very less active and never really attended. Ray wasn’t raised in the church, but now he was interested in learning more and coming closer to God! We set an appointment with him for the following Friday! We showed up for the appointment, and he welcomed into his house. We talked for a bit, then we started with a prayer. We went over the “How To Begin Teaching” points, and then taught him lesson one, The Restoration! He understood it very well, and it was a great lesson! He asked a bunch of questions, about The Book Of Mormon, and about prophets. The Spirit was so strong as we taught him! After we finished the lesson, Ray said that he felt something different when we were teaching him, and we were able to explain that the feeling he felt was the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness of our message! Ray told us how much he wanted to be closer to God in his life, and that he felt like he needed something more in his life. We invited Ray to read The Book Of Mormon, and promised him that he will feel more peace and joy in his life, and will be able to feel that same Spirit he felt as we shared our message with him! Man was the Spirit strong as we testified of the truth! Truly incredible! He said he was planning on coming to church and a fireside on Sunday, but got sick and couldn’t attend last minute. Because he got sick we missed our appointment with him yesterday, so we scheduled one for this Thursday! I’m planning on going over with the new elders replacing Elder Trumbo and I and passing him off to them, so it should be amazing! Ray is absolutely GOLDEN! I can’t wait to watch him progress towards baptism, it will be such a huge blessing to see that! I love being a missionary!!! :)
One of my really good friends, Elder McFadden, headed home this past Saturday! So crazy he finished his mission! He was serving in Riverton, so he came down and we were able to go out to dinner with him before he left! Sad he’s leaving, but he’s been a great example to me! Crazy, a mission is truly full of goodbyes......... so crazy! I also got to talk to one of my past companions, Elder Hatch, before he left! All of my homies are dropping like flies! Especially next transfer, all of them will be gone almost, so crazy, the mission is truly an amazing place where you meet some incredible people! I know I was supposed to serve here!
Actually right before Ray’s lesson last Friday, we had a teaching appointment with Dani! She was the girl I told you about last week that we went to see and she said she has been reading The Book Of Mormon quite a bit, and got “sucked in!” Amazing! We were able to go over the “How To Begin Teaching” points with her as well, and we taught her The Restoration! Amazing! She listened intently, and there was a sweet Spirit about the lesson! After the lesson she asked us “do you have a church nearby?” We told here yes and that it was literally a minute drive from her house! We told her the times and invited her to come! We also invited her to continue to read and pray to know The Book Of Mormon is true, and to know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God! She seems super interested as well, so we can’t wait to see how she progresses! It will be so amazing to see that! I love being led to people, seeing their progression, and being that instrument in Heavenly Father’s hands to reach out to “the one!” I love being “On the Lord’s Errand!” And I truly hope and pray that I can continue to develop my abilities of listening and heeding upon the Spirit for the rest of my life!!! Amazing!
A member in the Casper 6th Ward offered to remove all of our warts, (haha yes I know I’m gross......), so this past Saturday he did! What a miracle! Over the course of my mission, I have gotten some warts from companions of mine (thanks Elder Gentry.....haha:) which is weird because I’ve gone my entire life without a single one, until my mission! Anyways, the member removed them all and it was awesome! What a Christlike member! I love members of the church, everywhere you go, there are amazing members everywhere! Every single area of my mission, there have been amazing members! I’m grateful for what The Gospel Of Jesus Christ can do for us, it literally changes us to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ! What a blessing! If you want to be more like Him, follow and live His Gospel! You will see a huge difference as you do, and I’m sure many of you have seen and felt a huge difference! There are countless examples in my life, my parents, siblings, grandparents (all of them :), aunts and uncles, cousins, and some of my closest friends, who are truly living The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, and you can literally see the difference! I’m grateful for this true living Gospel that a loving Heavenly Father has provided! I hope it is making a difference in me to become more like Jesus Christ, my Savior!
On Saturday, we saw a sign to a garage sale, so we wanted to go see if we could talk to the people about the Gospel! (Garage Sale = People outside to speak with!) Right as we got there, it started to rain like crazy! They were rushing to put stuff back into their garage from the driveway, so we rushed and helped them put all of the stuff into the garage! They were so thankful, not interested in our message, but we were able to demonstrate Christlike service to them! I love random acts of service!!
Yesterday, our Elders Quorum President, Brother Jorgensen, was going to come to our lesson with Dani. He came, but Dani wasn’t home. So we went out and did visits with him for the rest of the night! It was amazing! We reached out to many people, that he had in mind, some that we had in mind, and it was super effective! We invited all of them to the Elders Quorum BBQ this Thursday and to church! Brother Jorgensen at every house was lovingly bold, and never offended anyone, because he was honestly almost perfect at being lovingly bold! It blew my mind! I definitely need to work on being lovingly bold, and straight forward to people in order to help them out! It was an amazing sight to see, and to see how well it worked too! Amazing!
In my studies this past week, I read Alma 50:1-10, and it was incredible! It says,
1 And now it came to pass that Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites; for he caused that his armies should commence in the commencement of the twentieth year of the reign of the judges, that they should commence in digging up heaps of earth round about all the cities, throughout all the land which was possessed by the Nephites.
2 And upon the top of these ridges of earth he caused that there should be timbers, yea, works of timbers built up to the height of a man, round about the cities.
3 And he caused that upon those works of timbers there should be a frame of pickets built upon the timbers round about; and they were strong and high.
4 And he caused towers to be erected that overlooked those works of pickets, and he caused places of security to be built upon those towers, that the stones and the arrows of the Lamanites could not hurt them.
5 And they were prepared that they could cast stones from the top thereof, according to their pleasure and their strength, and slay him who should attempt to approach near the walls of the city.
6 Thus Moroni did prepare strongholds against the coming of their enemies, round about every city in all the land.
7 And it came to pass that Moroni caused that his armies should go forth into the east wilderness; yea, and they went forth and drove all the Lamanites who were in the east wilderness into their own lands, which were south of the land of Zarahemla.
8 And the land of Nephi did run in a straight course from the east sea to the west.
9 And it came to pass that when Moroni had driven all the Lamanites out of the east wilderness, which was north of the lands of their own possessions, he caused that the inhabitants who were in the land of Zarahemla and in the land round about should go forth into the east wilderness, even to the borders by the seashore, and possess the land.
10 And he also placed armies on the south, in the borders of their possessions, and caused them to erect fortifications that they might secure their armies and their people from the hands of their enemies.
This is kind of a long one, but it is incredible! Even though the fighting and war was over, Moroni never ceased and kept preparing! I was thinking about it, and we have to do just that in our lives! We have to constantly be making spiritual preparations each and every day in order to defend against the adversary! Reading and praying daily are absolutely key for our our preparations, and attending church each Sunday, are the kinds of preparations we can make to make those fortifications to start strong and immovable! As did Moroni, we need to make ourselves Spiritual Strongholds to be ready to fight and defend against Satan every single day! We need to prepare now for those blessings to come! I know that as each of us does these things each day, we will see a huge change in our lives! It is easier to do the right thing always, than to do wrong things here and there! Prepare now, and do so every single day! I hope I can continue to do this now and throughout my entire life! I hope you guys have wonderful week, I love you so much! :)
Love,
Elder Bailey
Pics:
1. Saying bye to Elder McFadden!
Honestly we did have an amazing week! We were out Street Contacting Wednesday night and we were talking to a lot of people, it was so awesome! At about 8:40 we were walking towards a park and saw an older man playing fetch with his dog. We walked up to him and introduced ourselves. He said he had spoken with us two night previous on Monday night of last week, and then we finally remembered who he was! I don’t know if I mentioned this in my last weekly email, but we ran into a man Street Contacting two Monday’s ago, and ran into an older guy with his dog in front of his house. He said we could come back, so we wrote down his address. This was the same guy, and this time we got his name! His name is Ray. We got to know him better, and he told us that his dad was a member of the church, but was very less active and never really attended. Ray wasn’t raised in the church, but now he was interested in learning more and coming closer to God! We set an appointment with him for the following Friday! We showed up for the appointment, and he welcomed into his house. We talked for a bit, then we started with a prayer. We went over the “How To Begin Teaching” points, and then taught him lesson one, The Restoration! He understood it very well, and it was a great lesson! He asked a bunch of questions, about The Book Of Mormon, and about prophets. The Spirit was so strong as we taught him! After we finished the lesson, Ray said that he felt something different when we were teaching him, and we were able to explain that the feeling he felt was the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness of our message! Ray told us how much he wanted to be closer to God in his life, and that he felt like he needed something more in his life. We invited Ray to read The Book Of Mormon, and promised him that he will feel more peace and joy in his life, and will be able to feel that same Spirit he felt as we shared our message with him! Man was the Spirit strong as we testified of the truth! Truly incredible! He said he was planning on coming to church and a fireside on Sunday, but got sick and couldn’t attend last minute. Because he got sick we missed our appointment with him yesterday, so we scheduled one for this Thursday! I’m planning on going over with the new elders replacing Elder Trumbo and I and passing him off to them, so it should be amazing! Ray is absolutely GOLDEN! I can’t wait to watch him progress towards baptism, it will be such a huge blessing to see that! I love being a missionary!!! :)
One of my really good friends, Elder McFadden, headed home this past Saturday! So crazy he finished his mission! He was serving in Riverton, so he came down and we were able to go out to dinner with him before he left! Sad he’s leaving, but he’s been a great example to me! Crazy, a mission is truly full of goodbyes......... so crazy! I also got to talk to one of my past companions, Elder Hatch, before he left! All of my homies are dropping like flies! Especially next transfer, all of them will be gone almost, so crazy, the mission is truly an amazing place where you meet some incredible people! I know I was supposed to serve here!
Actually right before Ray’s lesson last Friday, we had a teaching appointment with Dani! She was the girl I told you about last week that we went to see and she said she has been reading The Book Of Mormon quite a bit, and got “sucked in!” Amazing! We were able to go over the “How To Begin Teaching” points with her as well, and we taught her The Restoration! Amazing! She listened intently, and there was a sweet Spirit about the lesson! After the lesson she asked us “do you have a church nearby?” We told here yes and that it was literally a minute drive from her house! We told her the times and invited her to come! We also invited her to continue to read and pray to know The Book Of Mormon is true, and to know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God! She seems super interested as well, so we can’t wait to see how she progresses! It will be so amazing to see that! I love being led to people, seeing their progression, and being that instrument in Heavenly Father’s hands to reach out to “the one!” I love being “On the Lord’s Errand!” And I truly hope and pray that I can continue to develop my abilities of listening and heeding upon the Spirit for the rest of my life!!! Amazing!
A member in the Casper 6th Ward offered to remove all of our warts, (haha yes I know I’m gross......), so this past Saturday he did! What a miracle! Over the course of my mission, I have gotten some warts from companions of mine (thanks Elder Gentry.....haha:) which is weird because I’ve gone my entire life without a single one, until my mission! Anyways, the member removed them all and it was awesome! What a Christlike member! I love members of the church, everywhere you go, there are amazing members everywhere! Every single area of my mission, there have been amazing members! I’m grateful for what The Gospel Of Jesus Christ can do for us, it literally changes us to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ! What a blessing! If you want to be more like Him, follow and live His Gospel! You will see a huge difference as you do, and I’m sure many of you have seen and felt a huge difference! There are countless examples in my life, my parents, siblings, grandparents (all of them :), aunts and uncles, cousins, and some of my closest friends, who are truly living The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, and you can literally see the difference! I’m grateful for this true living Gospel that a loving Heavenly Father has provided! I hope it is making a difference in me to become more like Jesus Christ, my Savior!
On Saturday, we saw a sign to a garage sale, so we wanted to go see if we could talk to the people about the Gospel! (Garage Sale = People outside to speak with!) Right as we got there, it started to rain like crazy! They were rushing to put stuff back into their garage from the driveway, so we rushed and helped them put all of the stuff into the garage! They were so thankful, not interested in our message, but we were able to demonstrate Christlike service to them! I love random acts of service!!
Yesterday, our Elders Quorum President, Brother Jorgensen, was going to come to our lesson with Dani. He came, but Dani wasn’t home. So we went out and did visits with him for the rest of the night! It was amazing! We reached out to many people, that he had in mind, some that we had in mind, and it was super effective! We invited all of them to the Elders Quorum BBQ this Thursday and to church! Brother Jorgensen at every house was lovingly bold, and never offended anyone, because he was honestly almost perfect at being lovingly bold! It blew my mind! I definitely need to work on being lovingly bold, and straight forward to people in order to help them out! It was an amazing sight to see, and to see how well it worked too! Amazing!
In my studies this past week, I read Alma 50:1-10, and it was incredible! It says,
1 And now it came to pass that Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites; for he caused that his armies should commence in the commencement of the twentieth year of the reign of the judges, that they should commence in digging up heaps of earth round about all the cities, throughout all the land which was possessed by the Nephites.
2 And upon the top of these ridges of earth he caused that there should be timbers, yea, works of timbers built up to the height of a man, round about the cities.
3 And he caused that upon those works of timbers there should be a frame of pickets built upon the timbers round about; and they were strong and high.
4 And he caused towers to be erected that overlooked those works of pickets, and he caused places of security to be built upon those towers, that the stones and the arrows of the Lamanites could not hurt them.
5 And they were prepared that they could cast stones from the top thereof, according to their pleasure and their strength, and slay him who should attempt to approach near the walls of the city.
6 Thus Moroni did prepare strongholds against the coming of their enemies, round about every city in all the land.
7 And it came to pass that Moroni caused that his armies should go forth into the east wilderness; yea, and they went forth and drove all the Lamanites who were in the east wilderness into their own lands, which were south of the land of Zarahemla.
8 And the land of Nephi did run in a straight course from the east sea to the west.
9 And it came to pass that when Moroni had driven all the Lamanites out of the east wilderness, which was north of the lands of their own possessions, he caused that the inhabitants who were in the land of Zarahemla and in the land round about should go forth into the east wilderness, even to the borders by the seashore, and possess the land.
10 And he also placed armies on the south, in the borders of their possessions, and caused them to erect fortifications that they might secure their armies and their people from the hands of their enemies.
This is kind of a long one, but it is incredible! Even though the fighting and war was over, Moroni never ceased and kept preparing! I was thinking about it, and we have to do just that in our lives! We have to constantly be making spiritual preparations each and every day in order to defend against the adversary! Reading and praying daily are absolutely key for our our preparations, and attending church each Sunday, are the kinds of preparations we can make to make those fortifications to start strong and immovable! As did Moroni, we need to make ourselves Spiritual Strongholds to be ready to fight and defend against Satan every single day! We need to prepare now for those blessings to come! I know that as each of us does these things each day, we will see a huge change in our lives! It is easier to do the right thing always, than to do wrong things here and there! Prepare now, and do so every single day! I hope I can continue to do this now and throughout my entire life! I hope you guys have wonderful week, I love you so much! :)
Love,
Elder Bailey
Pics:
1. Saying bye to Elder McFadden!
2. Saying bye to Elder Hatch!
3. This place in our area makes these 400 ton dump truck bins for mining companies, they are huge! Check out how small that guy is compared to that thing!
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