This Work is Not About Me!

Thanks for the email, pictures and packages and dearelder mail. The cinnamon rolls were great! The girls in the room all loved them. Here in the MTC we eat, sit and sit, sit, sit and eat, sit and eat so I still have a lot of extra cinnamon rolls left because we usually aren't that hungry except for bedtime because dinner is at 4:30 and we go to bed at 10:30. So the cinnamon rolls are great right before bed:) 

-My clothes are working great I get tons of compliments and I love them. 

-I just put my clothes in the laundry. It was so funny because me and my companion didn't know how to start the machines.... hahaha that was a little embarrassing.

 - Yes our room is very crowded.  I will try to send you a picture. We only have an hour on the computers so time is very rushed. 

- The room has six beds, six girls, six tiny closets with 3 small drawers. I still have kinda been living out of a suitcase because we have like no time to unpack and try to organize our lives. That is good though because then there is little time to feel sorry for myself.

-It is weird because a lot of the rooms only have like 4 girls in a room. Then our room has all six girls. I am glad that my room is full though because then I get to know more girls.

- I have met four other sisters going to my same mission. They are really cute and happy. I don’t know why my companion and I weren't put in their district-but oh well. 

- The food is good, we eat at 7, 11:30 then 4:30 It is a full meal every time.

Cool story the first morning my companion and I walk into the cafeteria and we both just wanted biscuits and gravy. I said a little joke, "hey maybe if we pray then we will get it for breakfast tomorrow.”So we each said a little prayer half serious... and guess what was for breakfast the next day?! Yeah!! Biscuits and Gravy! God answers my prayers daily. It is so cool! I am able to notice a lot of them because we are so filled with the spirit all the time. 

My district is great there are 12 people in my district and like 26 in our zone.  In our district there are 6 sisters and 6 elders.  Most of the kids in our district are straight out of high school-except for maybe three. The oldest on in our district is my companion, Hermana Parris. She is 20. She graduated in 2012. She is fun.  I have been laughing a ton. When I say that,  I am not kidding.  Everyone says Hermana Bailey is always laughing. When I was interviewed with the Branch President he thanked me for being so positive and said that I am making this a more enjoyable experience for others:) 

My companion is fun too.  She always laughs with me.  She is from Arizona and she is hating the cold.  I just laugh because it hasn't been that cold. 

Waking up in the morning is hard but not as hard as I thought it would be. Mornings or evenings are probably the hardest because that is when I think about the family. Whenever I let myself think about the family I get homesick and I cry whenever someone brings it up! Yeah super embarrassing.  My companion never cries. I cry when I feel the spirit - which is a lot, and whenever I talk about you guys.  HAhaha my companion doesn’t know how to handle it.  But don’t worry about me I am so fine.  Most of the time I am studying Preach My Gospel, memorizing a scripture in Spanish, or learning Spanish. Yeah 2nd day in the MTC we had to teach an investigator in Spanish! Super hard.  I am just trying to have faith that the language will come. I know it will though. Before I go to bed I can’t stop thinking about Spanish. Because I pray so much in Spanish it is a bit weird to pray in English now! 

The gift of tongues is real. I know I am not even close to being fluent but I know that the Lord is helping me. 

My teacher is great.  She only speaks Spanish. That makes things interesting. 

I love the Dearelder letters. The first day they came I got like 5 and 2 packages! Everyone in my district was like "well look who is popular."  I felt kindof bad they didn’t get any but I was sooooo happy I got so many. Keep them coming.  I make sure I share the treats.  However I think it would be best if you wrote me the long email to my email, because then I can print them off and read it then. My district leader gets the mail and I don’t get to read it until I am going to bed and nights are crazy busy so time to read is short.  So keep sending me the Dearelder mail, but for your long email just email it to me and I can print it for free.

I have learned so much here. The spirit is so strong.  I look at the missionaries who have been here a couple of weeks and think their testimonies are amazing. We have testimony meeting every night! The big thing I have learned while being here is that this mission is not about me. I heard this awesome talk from Elder Bednar and he said that we need to turn outside of ourselves. 

Did you get my letter? I sent it Thursday! I will try to send a picture but the computer isn’t working out so great! I have so much more to tell you but I am short on time. I will try and write you a letter. We can only write on P days so time is always short!! At first I was really struggling to sleep at night but now I sleep like a baby.  Haha the beds are super squeaky.

Anyways love you lots/ Hows kami? Any baby? Hows the family? Brayden start Basketball? I am so sorry the letter is confusing there really is not time! 

Love you all.  I am great. Don’t worry about me.  I am learning how to forget myself and serve God and then the rest will fall into place!   

Love,  Hermana Bailey