Monday, December 22, 2014

Two Months Today!





Dear family,
Wow! I can't believe I have been on a mission for 2 months today.  My companion is so nice. She wrote me this cute card and gave me this cute headband from Mexico.  Wow, thanks for the letters. The one from Uncle Ron was incredible.  I needed everything he wrote. I can print but I can't today so it would be good Mom if you could send me the letter from Ron in the mail. I know it will take a long time to get here. That is ok. Just send it anyway and I will also try to print it. 
This week was so much better than last week. I am still not good at Spanish but every day I am getting better. It very slowly and very very gradually comes. I have really learned to rely on the Lord. When I feel so sad and like I can't do it any more, a simple prayer really helps me through. It is amazing. My simple testimony of prayer is strengthened 10 times.  I could in no way do this without the Lord's help. This week has been a lot about Christmas and it has been fun to see people's traditions and see how things are so different here. We had a Christmas party with the ward and before the ward party all the missionaries in the ward (and there are 8 of us) we all made tons and tons of bread from scratch.  It is the funniest thing how they made the bread.  I will try and send some pictures. 

I have learned a lot about trusting the Lord. I felt so inadequate yesterday. We were teaching a lesson with these 2 ladies and one of the ladies was way against baptism. My companion and I were teaching the lesson with another girl who just got home from her mission and they were both teaching this way awesome lesson.  I could feel the Spirit but I  felt there is no way I will ever be like them. How can I do that? I am only 19 years old. In that moment I felt so inadequate.  I simply prayed and told my Father in Heaven that  I can't do this on my own- you have to give me the words to say and you have to help the people understand what I am saying. Well when it came time for me to talk,  I trusted the Spirit 100 percent.  I started to cry a little and the Spirit was so strong. The lady who was way against baptism agreed to be baptized on Jan 17 and after the lesson she gave me a big long hug and she said I love you. It was so tender. I am so tiny and so unqualified but through the Lord I can do what he wants me to do.

Well surprise surprise.  I have to speak in church on Sunday! Pray for me. Ugh I will need a miracle. Hahaha It is crazy how the spirit works.  I woke up that morning and told my companion, "I feel like I am going to be asked to speak today." Well low and behold,  yep I am.  On missionary work... Oh and of course I have to play the piano for everything - Sacrament meeting,  parties, all the time- right on the spot. I don't even have time to look at the music before the meeting.  I hear the page number in Sacrament meeting and I play it right after the Bishop says the page number.  And the songs are in Spanish and so I have to guess what tune it is because the words are not familiar. Hahaha, tell Serenity, Hope and Brayden to practice practice because if you go on a mission and they hear you are from Utah, you are expected to play whether you are good or not. hahaha It is so bad. But oh well, I can do hard things. I will come home a professional because I play so much. haha

I have gained a strong testimony of the importance of this gospel and I am so grateful for everything I am learning. 

Okay, anwers to extra questions:
The stores here are pretty similar. Milk and yogurt come in a bag - a little weird. Hahah, last week I put something pointy on the bag of milk in the store. Ummmm yeah, bad idea. Milk everywhere in the store. A little embarrassing.  We buy our fruits and vegies in a store that just sells fruit. Remember that time we did that cleanse and I needed to buy cactus from that little Mexican store? Yeah that is exactly what the stores are like here. Everything is super old and they sell the food old too. Yep I buy brown bananas -Hahaha. But the breads and cookies are to die for and they have these churros with dulce de leche inside. Sooooo good! I wouldn't be surprised if I get fat off of those. On P-days we clean the apartment and shop and write home. Then the missionaries in our district go buy ice cream and then play soccer! Pretty fun! Church is actually one of the biggest churches in our whole mission. Kinda funny because it is nothing even close to the wards in Utah.  But the doctrine is still the same.  I love the members. They are all so great. Well I love you all! Can't wait to talk to you all!
Love, Hermana Bailey

No comments:

Post a Comment