La Fe A Prueba (Faith on Trial)

Well Family!!
I am sad to see that you all are going back to school, but.... hahaha at the same time that is good news for me! Because next Summer I will be home and the weather is warming up where I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT IS THE BEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last week we had 2 beautiful days. They were soooo great. We walked around without our coats. It was such a miracle. Then this week we found a cute little family to teach!! They have 2 little girls they came to Bariloche from Buenos Aires to have a better place to raise their kids. They were going through a really hard time feeling welcomed here because the whole family is in Buenos Aires and they were feeling  a little forgotten. They told us they were really happy that we found them because it was like God telling them that he was watching out for them! Yeah super awesome. 

So this week we didn't have one investigator come to church! That is hard because President wanted every missionary to baptize 1 person before Agosto 29. So we only have a few pèople that can actually get baptized and there are some really big things they have to do before they get baptized - like get married. And the other girl's mom just had surgery so I feel kinda bad to try and push the baptism for this week because it might put some stress on the mom. And another lady who can get baptized is really closed off to baptism and so we stopped teaching her a couple of weeks ago. So we will see what will happen we will try our best and if God wants them to be baptized this week then we will see a miracle. I am really trying to help these people get baptized but it is hard when they don't have the desire! How can I help someone have the desire to have a clean page?? That is what I tell them it is, a new page but they are sooo hard sometimes. It just makes you want to strangle them! hahaha no I love the people. They are sooo great. I love the mission.  I am learning sooo much. 
I hope you all have a good week and enjoy the heat hahaha because now it is coming my way!!! yay!!!!! LAST WINTER IN THE MISSION!!! 

Love Hermana Bailey

Bautismos!!!

Hola Familia!!!!!!!!

Things here in Argentina are starting to warm up! We haven't had a lot of snow for 2 weeks so I am hoping we are past the snow. We woke up this morning and our heater was broken and it was this huge wind storm and our window flew open and we didn't even know for a couple of hours. Sooo our house was freezing! The wind is horrible today!!! My comp and I were walking and almost blew away;) hahahaha 

So this week we went to Neuquen for conference with President. We had to be in a bus for 6 hours. Then we got out and I was a little car sick... that was yucky. Then the next day we had conference with the president and he talked about using members and what we need to be doing to baptize more.  In our whole mission we had 40 baptisms in the whole month! That was actually not too bad compared to past months. And then it turns out that a member of the 70  called our president and asked why our mission was not BAPTIZING!!!!!!! Isn't that horrible!! I am a missionary in a mission that does not baptize. That broke my heart. But you know what?  I am a BAILEY! So I am going to keep giving it my all (with Faith) and God is going to show miracles! 

The conference was really great! President is such an inspired man! President told us that we can all have 1 baptism before 29 Agosto!! So last week we had such a good turn out in the church that our expectations were really high this week. We went around and taught and invited our investigators on Saturday and lots of them were like, "If we wake up we will go to church!!!" Ugh I was sooo nervous. We had to have at least 2 investigators that came to church... and guess what? We had 2 investigators come to church!!!!!! We are going to have 2 baptisms before 29 Agosto!!!! We were in the reunion sacramental and it starts at 10. 10:05 10:10 came around and still no investigator. Then at 10:15 he came!!!!!!!!!!! It was soooo awesome. We were just sooo grateful!!!! God is touching the hearts of the people here. 

On Saturday we found a cute family that we are teaching. They are from Buenos Aires and came to Bariloche to raise their family because it is more family friendly. We said hi to them in the street and then two days later we saw them again. We started to talk to them and they said we could go to their house and visit them so we did on Saturday. They are soooo cute. They thanked us for coming and said that they are so glad that we passed by because that for them was like God saying to them, "I am watching out for you."  SO Great!!! Seriously so many miracles. Our members are involved and they told us it is sooo good to have investigators in the church because they haven't had any come for a year or so. The Lord really changes the people. It really just depends on our faith! Ahhhh What responsibility we have as missionaries. But hey family,  help the missionaries. Don't just feed them. Take them to the neighbors and take them with you to less actives. Help prepare the way for the second coming!! 

Wow the kids are all ready going back to school!!! Time is going by sooo fast. Serenity is getting beat up huh??? That is good though Ren because that means you are crazy and do crazy things!!!! Hehehe I love it! Brayden don't worry about money. Just pray and keep looking for a job. You can do it!!! Your Brayden Bailey..but hey family love you alll!!!! Besitos y un abrazo grande 

Hermana Bailey

I cant send pictures this week. Sorry, my computer is being stupid. Love you all. y tambien pray for my health.  I am kinda sick this week :( yuck hahaha but everything is great love you 

   

Miracles!!! (Aug 10 Letter)

Well, this week was awesome!!!!!!!!! So I am just going to start out with saying how the Lord is in complete control!
So we had one day last week we didn't teach one lesson!!! We walked and contacted ALL DAY!!!! It was horrible. I was so grumpy! 
Then the next day we were running from lesson to lesson. It was AWESOME!!!!! We put a baptismal date with this lady who we have been teaching for 2 months. When we started she didn't believe in God. Nothing!!! Now she accepted a baptism date! AHhhhhh!!!! And she came to church yesterday!!!! She is reading the Book of Mormon and it is soooo awesome!!! The Book of Mormon has so much power. It is crazy!!! Then we started to teach this other guy and in the first lesson he didn't even let us say a prayer in his house... but man he is changing!!! He came to church yesterday. AHhhhhh!!! Yesterday was incredible. We worked super hard last week. And we got to church and normally on Sundays we have the guy that just got baptized and 40 members and nothing huge happens. Well yesterday we were in the bathroom before church and in walks a less active!!!!! Then we were like super excited and then I saw the lady who we have been teaching with her 2 little girls came too. Then we were sitting down with her and then this boy(19 years old) he walks in and I shook his hand and he told me this is his first time in the church and he came to get to know about the church! I was like En serio!! Sit down!!! Hahaha so he sat next to me in church and then we see this other investigator came to church!! Then a family of menos activos!!! Me and my companion were about to fall off of our chairs. It was awesome!!!!!!! Then after church all the members and the Bishop were like, "You guys are working so hard!! You are making a difference here." And we got 2 references from members!!! MOM DAD it is sooooooo awesome!!!! Afterwards my companion and I just looked at each other like what the heck just happened!!! Hahahaha and yesterday we found a new investigator. 


On Saturday we had transfers.  It it looks like my comp and I will be together 6 more weeks.  I am so excited for this transfer! My companion is really a giant among men! She is sooo good for me. She helps me work harder and stay focused on the work. I really don't know what kind of missionary I would be without her. Wow it is so great that God knew I would need someone like her to push me to be better. We have 2 hermanas in our group that we are their "leaders" that have been together for 12 weeks and they have to be together 6 more weeks!! It is crazy and they don't like each other at all. So we have to figure that problem out. It is interesting how God works to teach us! 

Mom, thanks for your little spiritual message! You are soo in tune to the Spirit. I have been worried that after a Sunday like yesterday that we won't be able to see another Sunday like that again but God just wants me to be an instrument in his hands and then he can touch the hearts of his children and have them come to church. Ahhhh I have been studying sooo much about humility and I have so much I need to change.  I am really trying to change and allow God to mold me so I can become the missionary he wants me to be but sometimes it is really hard to do 100 percent that he wants me to do. 

I am so grateful for every  miracle I have seen this week! OHHHH Yeah I forgot to tell you. So the other day we were outside walking and we got this phone call from a member saying "Are you sisters coming to church to clean?" And we were like what?...... We didn't know we had to go clean. Then my comp said, "We are the sisters from Bariloche. Which ward are you in???"  It turns out it was a ward from Allen (where I was before Bariloche) My comp said "Wait I am here with Hermana Bailey. She was in Allen." It turns out it was a member I knew. It was soooo fun to talk to him and he told me that the 2 people that got baptized when I was there are coming to church every Sunday and (Matias) passed the Santa Cena on Sunday!!!! He said they missed me and uh it was sooooo fun to hear from them. How random, no??? That they happened to call Bariloche by accident and call my phone. They were trying to call the Hermanas in Allen!! Wow, God totally helped that happen. It made my whole week!!! Soooo many miracles!!!! 

I hope all is well with the family. Serenity you look so big..... Brayden nice shoes... I thought you hated mine that looked like that... Hope you are sooooo stinking cute!!! Love the sign that says Bethany!!!! 

Love Hermana Bailey

Another Baptism (Letter from August 3)

Hey Dad!!

Thanks for your letter! Things here in Argentina are great. We just had a baptism! It was soooo awesome!! Wow we have seen soooo many miracles. God is working on Bariloche right now and changing it. I am so grateful I get to be here when it is changing.

Last week we talked in church (me and my companion) about faith and how God is going to strengthen the barrio through their faith. Then after church we had some members come up to us and tell us they would like to help us with the work. 

Then we had the baptism on Saturday of a guy named Edilio. On Thursday we had a lesson with him and right at the beginning he told us he wanted to wait a couple of weeks because he was feeling like the word of wisdom and the law of chastity was too hard to keep right now.... Uhhh me and my companion - our hearts just sank... We followed the Spirit and testified and the Spirit was soooo strong We told him that if he really wanted to change that he would need to `pray with faith for the help and do a fast... Well he said okay tomorrow (Friday) I will fast and then tell you how I feel... After the lesson (we were in the church), a woman who was in the church heard the lesson and came in the room and testified and said I will pray for you too brother!! Ahhh it was sooo awesome. Edilio even cried in the lesson. Well then Friday came and we had a short lesson and he had the interview for the baptism and he said that he didn't have desires to drink anymore but that he felt peace and felt ready to get baptized!!! Wow that is a huge miracle. Satan works so hard on the people before the baptism.. But God can change the hearts of men. The baptism went great. We had so many members there. 

The thing that is even greater is that yesterday we had 50 people in church when normally it is 27! The talks were about missionary work and the ward is doing a fast for missionary work on Sunday! Then last night we had a member call us crying and said, "Hermanas! You would not believe what happened. My family was in my house and started asking about the Book of Mormon... Then I told them a little. They were super interested and they want to read it. They asked for a copy!!!!" Ahhhh how awesome!!! 

Then we have another member who has a little niece that moved in with them and she is not a member. She is 12 and we are going to start to teach her tonight!!! SO great .... Then the bishop asked the elders when transfers are because he is going to talk to President about keeping me and my companion here for another transfer because he likes us a lot... Things are changing. It is soooo awesome! So many more miracles but I don't have time to write them all. Pray that the miracles keep coming so we can have 4 baptism in 2 weeks!! I know it can happen. We just have to give all our strength!! 

Love you. Hope you have a good week! I will send pictures next week. 

Hermana Bailey

(Letter from July 27th)

Hey Dad!

Thanks for your letter, I love your strength and your spiritual wisdom. I am sooo lucky to have great parents like you and Mom.  I thank God everyday for you guys!!! 

Well things here in Bariloche are good. We had an investigator who came to church yesterday. She is living with a family who are all good members. We are trying to teach her but she is really shy and when we teach her she doesn't answer our questions.... Kinda hard.  Thanks for your prayers they really give me strength.  I am sooo grateful for the gospel, Wow thanks for helping me get on the mission. Dad this mission is really helping me be the person God wants me to be. Wow don't worry about me in the cold. 

God has really helped us this week. We had some huge miracles and found lots of new investigators! The other day I was doubting about 4 baptisms in a week, I was praying for strength and I read in the Bible when John the Baptist baptized sooo many!!! Ummm yeah I felt the Spirit sooo strong and in that moment I knew we could accomplish our goal. But times I have such little faith. But hey faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things we can SEE! Anyways continue praying. 

Tell Mom to stop crying.  We also came to this life to be tried and tested and we should be happy that we are being tried right now because we will go back to God's presence way different than we left. Tell the family to have an eternal perspective!!! Because of Christ we can look at the eternal perspective and have joy! I love you and hope work will be good this week. I will pray for you. 

Love Hermana Bailey

Tell those returned missionaries I said hi!! So weird - they were my high school friends and they are home. Are they sad to be home or are they happy? How did that go? Super interested!!