Tuesday, July 10, 2018

7/10/18 | “...they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.”

  It has been a great week up her in Casper!  Last Tuesday night, we were invited to a wedding ceremony.  It was for a non member who Elder Williamson met at Walmart!  He is being taught by some other missionaries in another ward here now, but we still got invited!  It was being held at the 7th and Missouri Building.  Let me tell you, this had to be the strangest thing I’ve ever attended!  It turned out not to be a wedding ceremony.... but a commitment ceremony.  I had no idea that was even a thing!  Haha.  I guess I can summarize the whole ceremony and super strange, but the couple was so happy we could come!  So it was definitely a good experience to be able to support these people who are interested in joining the church!!
 The 4th of July was honestly nothing too special, just another day as a missionary!  One amazing thing that happened was a member from another ward came and installed our window air conditioning unit that we got from our Zone Leaders garage!  This was an amazing blessing because honestly, it has been super hot lately, and we are the top apartment so it would get pretty hot!  We were so grateful this kind member was willing to help install it for us!  He also fixed the window in our study room!  We thanked him so much, especially to come out on the 4th of July!  We asked him if we could do anything for him, to kind of return the favor, but he said that this was just him ministering to us, and that he didn’t need anything in return!  What a Christlike man!  We had a barbecue with the Palepale’s, a member family in our ward, and that was a good time!
 Actually on our way to the barbecue on the 4th of July, we were talking with a lot of people out in their front yards.  Most of them weren’t interested, but we met this lady who was visiting from Lincoln, Nebraska.  She said that she had spoken with somemissionaries before.  We talked to her about what we do as missionaries, how our message we share is centered on Jesus Christ! She really loved how much we talked about Christ as we spoke with her. She told us how impressed she was how young men like us had such a strong belief in Christ!  At the beginning of our conversation she didn’t seem too interested, but at the end she seemed super receptive!
 We told her that we invite everyone to read from The Book of Mormon, and pray to ask God to know if it is true, and we asked if she would like a copy.  She immediately said “yes!”  And was so happy to accept it!  We gave her a pass along card and invited her to go on Mormon.org and request to talk with missionaries in Nebraska if she wanted to hear more about our message.  She thanks us and said she would!  Such an amazing experience!  The Spirit truly softened her heart, and we hope and pray she continues to feel the Holy Ghost as she reads!”
 We were Tracting right before a dinner appointment this past week, and it started to rain.  Honestly, right when it started to rain, we talked to this guy who was about to go into his house, and he immediately told us to come into his home and stay dry!  How nice of him!  We walked into his home, and started talking to him.  We ended up teaching LeRoy The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  He told us how he had a relative that was Mormon, and that she took his copy of The Book of Mormon because it was an old one he found at a garage sale.  We were able to give him another copy, and we invited him to read.  He told us he has already done so, but we invited him to read with an open heart, and truly sincere intent, and to pray and ask God to know if The Book of Mormon is the word of God!  He said he would, so we are praying he does!  Really cool how some rain got us into a door to teach this man, so amazing!  The Lord truly works in mysterious ways!!
  We had a great lesson with Mark and Debbie this past Thursday!  A little background on them, they have been investigating the church for two years!  They are still working through some things, but ever since Elder Williamson got here last transfer, they started making some really great progress!  We were just planning on reading The Book of Mormon with them, but they brought up some concerns they had about priesthood authority, and why it is necessary for baptism!  We were able to talk with them and teach them about that.  They asked how did John the Baptist have the priesthood and we explained to them how he had the priesthood authority to baptize Jesus Christ.  Mark really doesn’t have a problem or concern with any of these things, it is mainly Debbie, but it is good to have Mark explain to her what he believes as well to help her get over these concerns!  Debbie also asked why the church seems like it is “behind the times”.  We talked about how the world is getting further and further away from the truth and what God wants us to do.
    We met a lady while returning to our apartment one night, and she said we could come by the next day to visit her at Lot #7.  So we went by the next day to visit her.  We saw Lot #8, and counted one over to visit what we thought was Lot #7.  We knocked on the door, and a man answered.  We asked for We asked for the lady, but the guy who answered said that whoever that was didn’t live there.  So we talked with him about The Book of Mormon, and it went so well!  He said he was religious in another denomination, predominately in the south.  After our conversation, he accepted a copy of The Book of Mormon!  We invited him to read and pray to know if it was truly the word of God, and he said he would! He said we could come back later this week, how cool!  After we knocked on the door, we were walking away and looked at what Lot number this was, and it was actually #6!  So we weren’t even knocking on the right door!  Heavenly Father truly guided us to this man! Can’t wait to go back and talk to him more! I love feeling “on the Lord’s Errand!
     On Saturday it was our missions “car fast” day once again!  We are always fasting from a car, but we still had an amazing day doing the Lord’s work!  We went out to visit a daughter of a member we ran into the other day for a return appointment, but she didn’t answer.  Elder Williamson had a feeling we should tract out a little bit of a trailer park we live by, so we did just that!  We ran into two solid potential people who showed some good interest!  The first one was a man who said we could come back another day when he wasn’t working, and the second one was a lady with a bunch of kids.  She accepted a copy of The Book of Mormon, and said we could come back as well!  It was very amazing!  We almost got stung by a swarm of wasps, but we were protected so that was a huge blessing too! :)  The rest of our Saturday was very very hot!  We were walking all over our area talking with a ton of people!  None of them were really interested, but three non members offered us bottled water!  Which was a huge blessing!  We drank all of the water very quickly, and it helped us stay hydrated!  That night we had a wonderful lesson with a recent convert, Scott!  He is so amazing!  We had it over at a members home, and had them help teach him!  It is so incredible to see how the Gospel can truly change peoples lives, and help them receive more happiness than ever before!  That is one of my most favorite aspects of missionary life, seeing the Gospel change lives!
      We received a referral this past week for a man who wants to be baptized!  He came to all three hours of church this past week, and we have a lesson set up for this Saturday!  Amazing how elect people come out of nowhere!  Can’t wait to teach him!!
      I read about the 2,000 stripling warriors this past week, and it reaffirmed how much I love them!!  In Alma 53:20-21 it states,

20 And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all--they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

21 Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him.

      How amazing are these young men!?  I want to become like they were!  I asked myself, “am I true at all times in whatsoever thing I am entrusted?”  This helped me ponder about some things I need to refine within myself.  I want to invite each of you to think about this, “Am I true at all times in whatsoever thing I am entrusted?” I know that as you reflect upon how to become close to our Savior Jesus Christ, and a more Christlike person, you will be able to refine yourself, and truly become as these young men were!!  I know The Book of Mormon is the word of God!  I feel it every single time I read, and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has provided us with this eternal gospel to follow, and that He has provided a son, Jesus Christ, to make it possible for us to return to His presence!  I hope you all have a wonderful week, God Loves you!

Love,
Elder Bailey


Pics:
1-2: Attending the wedding we were invited to!
3-4: Beautiful sunset after the wedding!
5: We had the privilege of eating at this special table at KFC!





No comments:

Post a Comment