October 26, 2015

Oh family your are all so cute! 
We came to a ciber that is a little more cheap and so I couldn't hear your videos ;( But that is okay! I will listen to them next week. I saw Hope poke Serentiy in the video! Hahaha Hopey, be nice!!! Kami I love your clothes you guys are soooo cute. Did you go to a party? You are all so skinny! 

Can you send me a picture when I entered the MTC? The day I completed 1 year in the mission I wore the same clothes that I wore when I entered the MTC! I can't zip it up all the way now haha but I just put my shirt over the skirt and no one knows! hahaha 

The weather here is getting nice. Yeah mom there are lots of flowers and green. There are some days that are colder but never freezing.  I can leave the house with 1 warm jacket instead of 2!!! 

This week went by soooo fast! I went to do exchanges with some of the sisters this week. That was fun.  Then we were teaching the family from Venezuela.  There were at least 11 adults- kinda scary. We went in the house when the whole family was together again and I always feel bad that we are interrupting  their family time.  And it is hard to teach them all at once, but we went in there and read out of the Book of Mormon with them! They love us! They gave us chocolate de Venezuela! It is crazy the authority and the trust that people put in us. They think that we know everything. Not even close! hahaha But I loved to teach that family. They are sooo dear to my heart. 

We are also teaching that lady and her dauhter still- the ones that said they were praying that God could send them someone and then we arrived!  God is so awesome! They are still progressing. The 15 year old daughter is sooo cute. She said the prayer in our lesson and she cried and at the end told us, "It's just when you guys are here I just feel so many emotions."  It was awesome! She is so in tune with the Spirit. 

Then in the night our lider de distrito called us and told us that we have been working super hard and that we should be able to see the fruits of our labors through baptism and he said to pray that God will provide someone to be baptized this weekend before transfers! (which I hate because when we rush people to get baptised I get so discouraged when people don't want to get baptized). So I prefer to help others come unto Christ and eventually, when God knows they are ready, He will help them have the desire! But I need to be a little more focused on baptizing I guess! 

I am doing good! I have been thinking about home a little more!! Super frustrating because my time is coming to an end here and I need to enjoy every second while I can! 

We have seen so many miracles and I just love being so close to the Spirit all the time and being so focused on everything that the Lord does for us! I hope you have a great week!  You asked about our vacation when I get home.  I think for a family vacacion a cruise would be awesome! Lets go somewhere where I can use my Spanish! But the truth is I would be just happy in our house! That would be the best vacation for me!!! hahaha 

Tell Alicia congratulations. Tell Brayden that he should do whatever makes him the happiest! Anyways, love you all. Besitos!!

Hermana Bailey

1 Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I was planning on celebrating my one year next week but hey, I got all your cute videos and so I will celebrate today!!! 

Woot woot 1 year!!

I can't believe it! I was looking at pictures yesterday from when I got into the MTC!! It makes me realize that my mission will finish sooner than I want it to! I have gained about 20 pounds and I can speak Spanish and I have a stronger testimony and appreciation for my Savior Jesus Christ! I don't have the same dreams that I had before I left!  Before, I wanted to travel and do something unusual with my life. Now I just want to be with my family, strong in the gospel!!! I love this gospel and my eyes have been so opened to everything I have been given, but mas que nada (more than anything) to how wonderful the gospel is and how necessary it is.  I think I have grown as much in this year as I have in my whole life!!!  So I was looking at those pictures and just remembering how wonderful it was... hahah but I would never want to live it again hahahah!!! I don't regret it but it was sure hard! 

This week was kinda hard but soooo awesome! We were contacting all day and we didn't even teach one lesson one day!!! I was sooo frustrated!  Then we were really focusing on the members like our Presidente asked us. And a family in the ward took us on a trip around Bariloche on Monday and they like love us now.  Then we are planning a movie night (Do You Know the Mormons) on Friday so we were helping the members give those invitations to their friends and they are super excited. They are like inviting all their friends! Then we found 10 new investigators!! It was a ton!!! I was sooo grateful! 

Then a bigger miracle happened.  Last week we were contacting in the streets (normally we don't have a ton of success) and we found this woman with her 15 year old daughter and she said "Yeah, you can come and teach us."  So we called them on Thursday and they said we could come by on Saturday! We went on Saturday and she said "I let you guys come over because I was never baptized in a church but I always felt the need so I baptized my daughter in the Catholic church but I would like to see what you guys believe..." PERFECT!!! So we taught the restoration!!! The Spirit was sooo strong. They said they felt strong emotions!! ( I don't know how to explain it in English.) And the mom started to cry at the end and said, "I just hit a really hard point in my life and I was praying to God to help me and I told Him that I need SOMEONE who could help me! And just after that you found us in the street!"  And she said, "I think this is what I need!" Then the next day they came to church!!! That never happens! It is usually really hard to get investigators to church!    But the members were all sooo weird!! Hahaha I don't know why. We always have investigators in church but this time the members like came up to us right in front of them and asked if they were investigators and I was like dying inside (like "don't say that in front of them-just say hi to them!!!") hahaha and one old lady comes to the investigator and says "I know that if you accept this in your life it will be the best decision of your life and you will never regret it!!!"  Hahaha soo awkward.  I feel so protective of our investigators. hahaha It's like I am a mom that is protecting the chicklets!!! hahaha But they said they loved it!! That was the highlight of the week! So many more miracles but I will have to write them in a paper letter and send them.

I just love the miracles in the mission. I really can see God's hand in my life everyday. I love my companion. She is super great! We laugh a ton! And it is finally getting warmer!!! Yesterday I was out all day in short sleeves!!! In the night it was a little chilly but it was sooo pretty!! I love the sunny weather. 

Anyways, thanks for doing the challenge. Mom you rock!!! I am soo proud of you.  You did your part and God is proud and he will have confidence the next opportunity and there will be someone else! I know it is hard in Utah! But hey just look at the neighbors. You have like 5 people on our street who need the missionaries!

Anyways, thanks for the videos. I love you all soooooo much.  I cried a little when I saw the video of everyone! Not because I am sad but I just love you all sooooo MUCH! 

Hey dad, a question! We have an investigator who is super great but she works on Sundays almost every Sunday! Do we baptize her or keep trying to tell her to find a different job? I am sooo confused what the church's stand on the Sabbath day. That is something I struggle with.

Hey, I can get a package for Christmas!!! Some Annies mac and cheese would be a delight!!! hahaha and I have to go. Love you, 

Hermana Bailey

Hard Week-But Still Lots of Miracles

Dear Family!!!!!!!
I love the `pictures!!! Katie is soooooo pretty.  I feel so blessed to be part of such a pretty family. God truly has blessed our family, and we have to use this gift to bless the lives of others.  

So this week was interesting. We have the standard to teach 21 lessons a week (investigators only). We only got 13 and we just can't seem to get 21. It is soooo hard.  We had a meeting with the leaders in our area and the leader of the zone is super spiritual and works super hard. I asked him what are they doing to  get 21 lessons a week. He told me some things to do and I just got so frustrated because I am trying to do it and he told me everything I am already doing!! Ugh! Frustrating.

 

This was a week where we contacted a ton!! And the people were really mean! They would just say things and treat us like garbage. ugh I just wish they would understand what they are throwing away! 

I have seen soo many miracles this week so I made it through the really hard times. One day we were contacting all day!!! I was sooo tired and people were sooo mean! We sat down and said a prayer and I started to cry (my poor companion). She said let's go buy a chocolate and then keep contacting. So I agreed. So on the way to buy a chocolate, we found this 16 year old girl outside and we started to talk to her and we taught a lesson outside on her porch! It was such a blessing.  I was so sad. God tested me to my limit and then gave me a blessing!! I am so amazed at the person He is making me be. I can feel the Spirit guiding me all day if I am humble. 

Our president wants us to use the members!! So I am trying and I thought, "how can I help the members do missionary work? I feel bad- they have their busy schedules..." I thought, "I have to give them hope and excitement to do it...." Sooooo I need your help!!! I need you guys this week as my family and members of the church to pray and really look look look for missionary opportunities and next week tell me how you involved the missionaries and what you did so that I can tell the members that if my family, who is super busy and who lives in Utah (where most of the people are members ) can be missionaries, then the members here can do it too. Can you pray and really try to do it???? Please,  I know it was inspiration and that I need you guys to be missionaries! Invite them over for dinner with the missionaries. Invite the missionaries to go with you to do your visiting teaching to the less actives.  I don't know what you can do, but God knows. He knows you're busy, but he knows how you can do it!!!! 

Being a missionary is soooo hard! I don't think I have ever felt sooo inadequate in my life! Its like we are never perfect! haha But that is good because I am learning to rely on God 100 percent because I know I can't do this work on my own. 

So we have been teaching a family from Venezuela and there are like 13 of them. We passed by their house and the whole family was there. It was kinda awkward - it was like a family party.  I thought, oh boy, how are we going to teach them? and what do we teach them, because some of the family has already been listening to us.  But I thought "let's teach the restoration" (all are catholics). Before we taught the lesson,  we were talking and getting to know them and no one knew what to say. I was carrying the whole conversation! It was sooo great. God used my little talent to talk and laugh and help the whole family feel comfortable. My companion had just wanted to share a scripture but I started to teach the restoration and it was sooo awesome!! We were teaching this family about Joseph Smith. It was probably the best moment of my mission. They were all interested and we got 5 new investigators! I don't know If I am explaining this very good. But it was sooo cool.

Then another miracle-We were teaching this guy named Pablo. He has come to church 6 times and he is progressing but he didn't understand why baptism is sooo important.!! He had some really hard questions that we just didn't have the answer to,  we just have to trust that God told us to get baptized. And then we had a really good lesson with him. On Tuesday it hadn't gone very well. He said, "I will see you in the celestial kingdom without baptism."  But then on Friday we taught a lesson that was really spiritual and talked about the Holy Ghost and then he said he will get baptized on Oct 30th!!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooo amazed!!! It was sooo awesome just having the Spirit tell me what to teach and what scriptures to use to help him with his doubts.

 

My scripture this week is James 1:2-4

Oh yeah!! And we found this contact that was really creepy. It was a teenage boy that was like yeah I would love to learn more!! But it just didn't feel right. My companion was like "no, I think he is just weird." But I just didn't feel like it was a good idea. But my comp really wanted to go. So I said okay. Then we went to the area to meet him (in public safe).  And he was like, " I am close to the lake"  where there was no one and he wouldn't come and meet us in the public area.  I was like "no, we are not going over there." So we didn't and then last night he sent us messages saying how we don't practice what we teach about love... Yeah we didn't text him back but it was sooo messed up. He luckily doesn't live in Bariloche, but it still was messed up! God is protecting us!

Anyways, love you all. Sorry this letter was so random. Love you so much and miss you tons.  But hey 7 months isn't eternity.. hahaha but I am great. I just need to look for the good,  

Love Hermana Bailey

Conference Weekend

Hello family!!!

Well this week, just like other weeks, was a miracle. We had 4 investigators come to the conference!!!!! Tyson, don't get discouraged that you only had one friend come to conference. Every little effort in missionary work that you do is not wasted!! And hey you had 1 come!!! That is awesome. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. That is 1 soul that came!!! Woot Woot missionary work!!!! I am soooo proud!!! 

Sooo conference was awesome!! I had to watch half in Spanish because our investigators came and we had to sit with them... I didn't get as much out of the Spanish session as I did the English!! I am sooo grateful for English! I didn't think I would ever love English so much in my life! But I LOVE it!!!  My companion and I are having so much success it is crazy!!! I am just so grateful that our investigators are coming to church! 

And we had the cute family that moved to the elder's area!! We introduced them to the elders this last week and they are going to get baptised at the end of this month!! I am sooo happy for them! They are such a cute family! The husband was really open to the message but then he started working and we were just teaching the wife. Then they moved and the elders can't enter the house without the husband there. So now the Dad was forced to listen! And he is sooo excited to get baptized. I was so sad about the move at the beginning. But now I see that it was part of God's plan and that God had to use us to help the wife but God needed the elders to help the Dad so he had to have them move!!! So awesome!!! I love that God is  in charge and not me!! 

Serenity!!! If they change that sisters have to serve for 2 years that would be awesome!!!! 18 months is not enough!!! hahaha 

Things are great here. I loved conference. I learned a lot about how little by little God makes us into the person He wants us to be. I feel like I learned a lot about how we don't have to be that person, we just have to do what God wants us to. I hope that makes sense. 

We had a time change and I will be waking up at 7!!! The best thing ever!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo happy!!!!!! Today I will cut my hair(just a little). I don't want to cut it. But the member wants us to teach her niece so we are going to do it so we can get to know her niece. That is the best thing about the mission, when we put other's needs before our own we feel sooo good inside!! 

I feel like Conference recharged my battery and I am ready to go again! The mission is so draining sometimes but yet soo fullfilling! I can't explain it!! hahaha But whenever I think about Christ and that I am doing this because I love Him, I am always given the strength I need to keep pushing.

I will let you know the scripture I pick next week.  I still haven't picked one!! How sad! hahaha 

Anyways, love you all. Don't miss me because I will be home faster than you want eating all the white bread (Brayden) ;)   Oh crazy, Brayden is driving on the freeway!!! Sooo big!!!! Love you all and keep pushing forward! 

Hermana Bailey

Fun Week!

Life is Good. 

So this week was super fun! My new companion is very spiritual. She has 8 months in the mission and yes she is a hermana leader with me. My other comp left to be a hermana leader in Chipoletti. It is close to Allen where I was before. I was so sad when she left. We were together for 14 weeks so that was a hard change. 

My new companion is Hermana Worth. This is her first time as a hermana leader so I am training her.  hahaha no there is nothing to train -she really is super great, a hard worker and very obedient. You should see her do her exercizes in the morning... um yeah super intense. It's good for me because maybe I can lose some weight... hahaha really though.  So my companion won't let me speak in English sooo that will help my Spanish and she always likes to sing. She has a really good voice.

So Monday my new companion arrived in Bariloche at 10pm. I just hung out with a member and went to the Bishop's house and we had family night there. It was really fun. 

Then we lost lots of investigators this week. I felt bad for my comp. Because I remember the first week in Bariloche is always hard because we walk a ton. But she will get used to it... hahaha  

This week we saw so many miracles. We had a baptism!!! Magali she is 12 and her family are members and now she is!!!

We went to Neuquen on Thursday and we had leadership conference with all the leaders (it was good).  I saw Hermana Larmouth. That was sooo fun. It is always fun to see old companions. Then we ended the conference Friday at 3pm and I wanted to go to my old area Allen to visit my old investigators and I was so excited.  We weren't leaving to Bariloche until 12pm that night so we had time to go. We got permission and everything. Then.... I lost our cell phone!!! UGh I was so mad. So we were at the bus stop just about to go to Allen and I couldn't find our phone. Then, out of luck we found 2 elders  at the bus  stop who helped us call people. I lost it in the taxi and we called the taxi place and it wasn't in the taxi and so someone stole the phone after we left! Ugh.. So we couldnt go to Allen. We ended up going to the old area of my companion because it was close to Neuquen and it was fun to be with the members. They made us food and it was really fun. Then something happened to our tickets and we couldn't leave until Saturday at 6am. We had the baptism at 5pm that day!! And I lost our phone so I didn't have numbers of members or anything and so I was super stressed. But we got a new phone in Neuquen and hoped that people remembered about the baptism.  And we got to Bariloche at 1pm. Then we cleaned the church and had the baptism... It turned out really good and we even had an investigator come to the baptism. It was sooo great. Then after the baptism we took a member to the church and showed her the church. She said she didn't want to go to church because she didn't have a skirt but... she came to church yesterday!!! And it was a huge miracle because she has work every Sunday and my companion and I fasted that she could come to church and she came to church yesterday and she liked it a lot!!!! So many miracles! Anyways I am doing great and I hope you all have a good week. 

Hermana Bailey

Harley died?!! Oh sad day