9/11/18 | Heavenly Father is mindful of each of us, boy do I love Him!

What a week!  I love being a missionary!!! Man time flies, so crazy that it is September 11th!  Well, this week went great.  We had exchanges with Elder Treanor and Elder Fronk this last Wednesday, and they went great!  I was with Elder Treanor.  It was a great day and a great exchange!  We decided we were going to do a bit of street contacting after dinner, so we went and walked some busy streets of Casper.  Well, they were usually busy, but they were kind of dead.  We talked to the people we came across, but none were super interested.  At about 8:45, we saw this guy sitting in his truck on the side of the road.  We walked past him and both of us felt like we definitely needed to talk with this guy.  We approached his window and waived hello.  He rolled in down, and we talked with him.  He was not too interested, but Elder Treanor saw he had a camera around his neck.  That struck up a conversation.  When it was about to end, Elder Treanor asked if he would take our pictures.  He said he would for sure!  He got out and actually talked with us for another 45 minutes!  It was amazing how just been friendly and asking for him to take our picture, open some doors!  At the end of our conversation, after a lot of laughs and then testifying to him of what we knew to be true, we invited him to attend church.  He told us, “Well I can’t believe it, but I’m actually going to come and check it out!”  We hope and pray he does!  How amazing!  He took a few pics of us, and then we were off.  It is amazing to see the people we are able to touch when we put forth the effort, even when it was not very “busy.” God still provides a way for all of His children to hear about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!!  Even thought this man may not join the church anytime soon, we helped him feel the spirit.  He will remember that experience someday to when he is completely ready to change.  Missions are truly incredible!
    We had a lesson with Mark and Debbie again this past week.  We read Alma 42 with them.  They are starting to read more again on their own.  We invited them to church, but they couldn’t make it once again this week.  It has been a frustrating time teaching them, not seeing the progress too much, but hopefully someday they will come around!  They are great people, who have a great desire to change.  All on God’s timetable!  Right after that, we had a lesson with a inactive member, Sarah, who we got in contact with a few weeks ago.  We talked to her about The Gospel of Jesus Christ, with an emphasis and focus on faith.  We read Alma 32:21, 26-30 with her, and had a great discussion about how we can each individually develop and grow our faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.  She asked us if she should focus her studies in the Book of Mormon, and we said that would be great!  We invited her to read daily from The Book of Mormon and to pray daily as well.  She said she would, so that is awesome!  She hopes to attend church in a week or two!  It has been great to see her desire to come back to church since she reached out to us.  So amazing!
     We had a bunch of member visits, teaching families about missionary work, this past week!  We also met and taught Roger and Jerri again, a member and a non member we’ve been working with.  They are doing good, coming to church every week (except one since they were out of town) since we’ve been meeting with them!  That has been cool to see their knowledge in the gospel grow, and their desire to meet with us grow as well.  I love them!  We hope and pray they may continue to attend church, and have a desire to meet with us continually!
     One of the most exciting lessons we’ve had this past week were with Ken and his wife Nicole.  We taught them two more times, and reviewed the Baptismal interview questions with him.  He is so prepared and humble.  He understood all we have taught him, and has committed to follow all of the gospel standards and commandments.  It has been cool to see not only Ken, but his wife change for the better as we’ve taught them!  They are both progressing so well.  Ken had his Baptismal Interview yesterday, and is all ready to go this Thursday!  What a miracle it has been to have Ken and Nicole come into our lives so that we could teach them.  Wow!  Can’t believe this is all happening so fast.  We are looking forward to Thursday night for Ken’s baptism, we can’t wait to see him make those first covenants with God!  We are so grateful that they both came into our lives, what a tender mercy from our loving Heavenly Father!
      We had dinner last Friday with Angel, Jessica, and Jessica’s boyfriend.  Angel is the little 9 year old girl we have been working with.  It was a great dinner.  We had a great lesson about the Atonement, reading from Alma 7:10-13.  She hasn’t attended church in awhile, because they’ve been very busy with different things, but hopefully she starts attending soon!  We’re grateful that God sent us to talk with them on the street next to our apartment so that they could start progressing in the gospel.  Heavenly Father hand is in all the aspects of our lives, most the time He goes unnoticed.  We always need to remember the small and simple blessing that he blesses us with every day.  Speaking of this topic, I am grateful to be a missionary.  This experience has blessed me now and for eternity.  I love Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  They are all so incredible!
      Yesterday, we were determined to visit and contact a ton of people with interest.  We didn’t get to talk to a lot of them, haha but it provided us a way to talk with a bunch of random people we wouldn’t have been able to talk with otherwise.  Even though we didn’t see much “success” in finding more people to teach, we know we made an impact in someone yesterday through all the rejection!
      Well, a lot of you may know this.  My time is far spent...... this is very crazy to think about how two years of hard work, studying, preparing, sweat, rejection, enduring both hot and cold days, disappointments, daily fatigue, love, happiness, hardships, and difficulty, has been two of the most joyful years of my entire life!  There is nothing like serving the Lord and doing His work!  I’ve learned so much throughout my mission, I can’t even begin to write them, it would take up most of this email!  Through all of the things I’ve learned, one things stands above them all.  I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior.  He is your Savior.  He suffered, bled, and died for us, so we can live with God again.  He loved us enough to perform the Atonement, so that we could become perfect like our Father in Heaven.  It was the most loving act ever performed, and I’m so grateful for it.  I can’t express how much I love Him and my Heavenly Father.  I know that The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God.  If anyone doubts this, please prayerfully study it with an open heart!  If you study and ponder about it, you will feel the Holy Ghost touch your heart!  Every time I read from its pages, I feel the spirit testify to me that it is truly Christ’s Doctrine!  I know that Joseph Smith is truly the prophet that God called to restore the same church that Jesus Christ himself established when He was on the earth.  I love and respect the prophet Joseph with all my heart.  I know that we have a living prophet, President Russell M. Nelson.  He receives revelation and guidance for the whole world!  He is God’s mouthpiece.   All of these things I know to be true were kindled and are continually being fed by a book, The Book of Mormon!  What a blessing it has been to teach people about this joy and happiness I’ve experienced my whole life!  I’m grateful for the people that Heavenly Father has sent in my path for my companions and I to reach out to.  All things are done by and through our Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ!  I hope each of you feel how much love I have for this gospel as you’ve read my weekly emails!  Because I truly do! :)  There has been a scripture running through my mind the last transfer, it is 2 Timothy 4:1-7, which states,

1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

       My mission has changed me, it has refined me, and it has defined what I will be for the rest of my life.  I hope to continue and become the disciple I need to be for my Savior Jesus Christ!  I may be released as a full time missionary soon, but I will never stop doing missionary work!  I want to continue what has brought me such an insurmountable amount of happiness and joy for the past two years, for the rest of my life!  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way we can feel this pure joy and happiness, and I know as we all love the teaching of Jesus, and live by them each day, we can all find happiness, peace, comfort, and joy in an ever changing world!  I want to thank you all for supporting me in this endeavor.  I’ve been blessed with the best mission President and wife, President and Sister McMurray, the best parents, siblings, grandparents, extended family, and dear friends who have helped me through these two years.  Thank you.  I am so blessed to have each of you in my life!  I love you all so much!  I will see you all shortly, but for now I am still Elder Bailey and have a calling to finish!  Have a wonderful rest of your week!  

Love, 

Elder Bailey 

Pics:

1-2: helped a member get a coyote tail off of a hide he is preparing to be tanned!  (Smelled like straight up death......)

3: alleyway in downtown Casper, while we were street contacting! 

4: said bye to Scott Saulnier!  

9/4/18 | What a fantastic week to be a servant of the Lord! :)

 Well let’s just get into the week!  Last Tuesday night we went and contacted a referral we received from a member of another ward here in Casper.  The man was so happy to see us!  He is in a wheel chair due to a disorder, and has become interested in learning more again about our church!  He has been making some business deals with members of the church from Utah, and he was so amazed and impressed with how honest they all were, so he felt inspired to reach out to his member friend to send us over!  We talked with him, set up a time to meet, and he asked us if he could have a copy of The Book of Mormon!  Of course we handed one to him, and we invited him to read from it and pray to ask God to know if it is true.  He said he would!  He pushed our lesson back to yesterday.  We showed up at his house and he didn’t answer!  Too bad, but we’ll get him this week!  I love meeting elect people who are ready to listen and learn!
    Speaking of elect people, Ken is honestly the most elect person to enter into my life as a missionary, no joke!  We taught him last Tuesday, Sunday, and Monday, three times in a week!  Wow!  He is the man who moved from technically Las Vegas, but pretty much Missoula.  (Long story!  So I can’t fit it all in here :). We hadn’t received his record yet from the sisters in Vegas, so we just decided to go over all the lessons anyways.  We taught him The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ over the course of those three lessons!  We tied in a couple commandments while we taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that was good too!  During our first lesson last Tuesday, Ken had mentioned how he wanted Elder Godfrey and I to teach him everything, and work with him up to his baptism.  Ken has previously studied with missionaries since February of this year, so he knows all of the lessons.  We were expecting his record to be full of lessons, but when we finally got it he had only been taught The Restoration (according to the missionaries records, which may be a bit spotty......). We think Ken was taught more, but they forgot to record it.  Anyways, we decided and agreed to teach him all of the lessons anyways!  Sounds like the other missionaries couldn’t meet up with them too often, because Ken knows a ton, but never got baptized.  Since he had met with missionaries, he has had a few spiritual experiences, including one incredible answer to a prayer!  Another cool long story, but it is all summed up with Ken knows the church is true now, and he wants to be baptized!  In our lesson on Sunday, we taught him and invited him to be baptized on September 13th!  (He has Thursday’s off from work, and it worked out so Elder Godfrey and I can both be at his baptism!  Amazing!). He accepted, and we shared a plan with him to help him be ready by then!  He had so many questions that we were able to answer as well.  He has been reading The Book of Mormon a bunch, studied and prayed over all of the Pamphlets, and has kept all the commitments we’ve given him!  He is incredible!  The third lesson went so well!  We had a young man who is leaving on his mission in October as a member present!  Ken understands the gospel, and is so intelligent, it is amazing!  At the end of this lesson, Ken and his wife Nicole, thanked us.  It was one of the most sincere appreciative comments I’ve ever received.  It has been a special experience teaching Ken so far, and we can’t wait to continue to help him on his path to conversion!  What a miracle!
      Last Wednesday we had a priest, who is starting his senior year of high school, come with us for the day!  His name is Devan.  Devan recently joined the church about a year ago.  He joined on his own, his parents aren’t even members!  How amazing is that!?  We picked him up at 8:15, and we had him for his “Micro Mission” as we called it, and it went amazing!  We had great studies, good insights, great practice and role plays,  and a great time doing the work!  We had lunch with Scott, the recent covert, and we taught him another after baptism lesson.  The most special experience we had was while we were Tracting.  We decided to tract in a trailer park near our apartment, and Elder Godfrey and I went first so that we could show Devan how we approach doors.  On his first door he ever knocked on, the lady was busy, but wanted us to come back!  She asked for a copy of The Book of Mormon, and Devan gladly gave it to her!  He was so happy!  And excited because Elder Godfrey and I had both gotten rejected pretty hard, haha!  After another couple times of us all being rejected, and after some time of Tracting, on the last door we planned to knock that day, it was again Devan’s turn to knock, a native women answered,  she said “oh look, it’s the cute Mormon boys!” She was slightly drunk, but not horribly drunk.  We talked with her, and she wasn’t open at all.  After we testified to her about The Book of Mormon, she asked us why bad stuff happens to good people.  Elder Godfrey pulled out Alma 14, and talked about how God has given us all agency, and sometimes good people are hurt due to bad peoples decisions.  She started to cry, and later asked us for a blessing (her grandparents are members.). So we gave her a blessing, and Devan was able to give her a copy of The Book of Mormon and we testified that as she read she would feel peace, comfort, and hope!  She said she would read and pray.  Devan was absolutely stoked!  The rest of our day went well, and he told us and a member family we stopped by for some water, that he did have a stronger desire to serve a mission now!  I surely hope that us being with him helped him!  Elder Godfrey and I fasted and prayed that we would see some amazing experiences, we know God answers our prayers!  :)
      I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Petersen this past week.  He is a good guy, this is his first transfer as a missionary!  We had a great time!  We Tracted (of course:), worked with members, gave a blessing to a Sister missionary who asked for one, set up appointments to work with more members, and had a great lesson with Mark and Debbie!  It was a great day!  I was surprised we didn’t get any comments in our companionship for the day.  Elder Petersen is about 5’ 1”, so it was a good difference between us!  Haha.
      We had our Car Fast/No Drive Day this past Saturday, and we had Mark, the person we are teaching, give us a ride to the other side of town so we could do work in the Casper 9th Ward area.  We visited a bunch of members, and had a lot of success!  We inactive man told us his wife wasn’t ready yet, but when she is he would call us to come and teach his whole family.  We gave him our number, and he was so grateful we had stopped by!  Hope that benefits the work here in the future!  This random guy we talked to on the street, after he rejected us and we asked him if he knew anyone we could reach out to, pointed towards his neighbors house and told us to try them.  We did, and as we introduced ourselves, the lady told us that they were members!  We had missed them on our area book map!  We scheduled a return appointment with them next week! These exact Members turns out to be someone who the 2nd Counselor in the bishopric, my cousin Brother Whitlock, asked us to go try sometime!  Miracle!  So amazing the guy guided us to them, even if he didn’t mean to, the Spirit was definitely guiding him!  Super cool!  We also had some born again Christians poke their head outside of their door and asked why we skipped their house.  They invited us in, and we had a semi friendly conversation about what we believe, and we answered a bunch of their questions!  They didn’t agree with a few things, but we left them with a copy of The Book of Mormon to read and pray about.  They said they’d give it a try, so hopefully they check it out!  That was a first on my mission, to get called into someone’s house to teach them, and it wasn’t contentious!  Haha, amazing!
      Sunday was amazing!  It was a great opportunity because we got to bear our testimonies two times because we are covering two wards.  What a blessing!  The Casper 6th Ward has struggled with supporting us as missionaries, but lately since we started to focus on working with individual families, it has gotten a lot better! Anyways, we had President Davies, the 2nd Counselor in our mission presidency, attend our Fast and Testimony Meeting.  We did not see him until he got up to bear his testimony.  When we saw him, I quickly went up so I could be right after him!  He said some very nice things about us, and testified a strong testimony about missionary work!  After I shared mine, Elder Godfrey shared his.  Then one by one missionaries from the crowd started to come up to share amazing testimonies about missionary work!  Some senior missionaries serving in Martin’s cove, a couple who happened to be attending our sacrament meeting in their way from the MTC to their mission in Minnesota, a couple kids with mission calls, some service missionaries, and some random visitors who had served missions recently.  The Spirit was so strong, it was amazing!  Then a member of the ward council, who we had shared a message with last Wednesday, got up and bore his testimony about how the message we were sharing was amazing, and that if their were any families who hadn’t had us over to share it, they should!  It was such an amazing meeting, and we’ve never felt so much love before in this ward!  Truly a neat experience!  Hopefully this helps the ward in the future, we know it will!  The rest of our meetings were amazing, but that one trumped it all!  I love feeling the spirit!  :) I honestly  couldn’t stop smiling after that meeting!
      In my studies this past week, and Mormon 3:22 stood out to me.  It states,

22 And I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.

       Now is the time to prepare!  We must do the small things daily and weekly, read our scriptures, pray, Attend Church (partake of the sacrament).  All of these things help us to prepare, and endure to the end!  I hope you all are having a great time feeling the Spirit in your lives!  We can always feel the spirit, especially when we have the Gift of the Holy Ghost!  Do what is necessary to invite the Spirit daily!  Hope you all have a fantastic week!  Good luck Jenna and Mike!  The new baby coming will be so fun!!!! Can’t wait to see pictures of little tiny Emma! :)

Love,

Elder Bailey 

Pics:

1. President and Sister Davies at church! :)

2. Pretty Wyoming sunset!

3. District Preparation Day today!  Elder Fronk and I won the big prizes because we were 1st and 2nd in bowling!  Wooo!