Nuevo Presidente!!!

Snow!!!!

Dear Family!!!! 

Wow, this week was incredible!!! So we went to Neuquen and the new mission president has so much animo (energy). He is just ready to work and change the mission. Soooo pretty much the conference was beautiful. The Spirit was so strong. The missionaries were so strong. Soooo pretty much you HAVE TO READ  Gene R Cook Liahona from 83 May. 

(https://www.lds.org/liahona/1983/04/faith-in-the-lord-jesus-christ?lang=eng) 

It is about this missionary who has 25 bautismos in 1 month in an area that did not have any success for years. This missionary goes in there and changes everything because of his faith.  He ended up having 18 baptisms. Then we were all talking about how awesome this missionary is and how we want to be like him. Then President gets quiet and says, "This missionary was me!!!" Oh my gosh we were all in awe!!! We stopped and no one said anything. Then a missionary yells "Thanks for your example President!" It was soooo powerful.  I was soooo happy to be a Hermana Lider this transfer so that I had the honor to be in the conference.  Then we planned our conference with the zone. My compnaion and I had to give a talk, and I talked about hunting and how it is kinda like missionary work hahahaha. It went all right but when the elders got up,  that was when the Spirit was really strong and every missionary had tons of animo. We put goals that we want to have happen in the next 4 weeks.  My companion and I put the goal of 5 baptisms before the end of this transfer 8 August. The whole zone was 136 baptisms!!!! Soooo crazy. The Spirit was so strong Mom!!! We cried and we just had soooooooooo much Spirit!!!  136 baptisms sounds impossible but you would not believe the miracles that we are seeing in the zone! We are going to see a huge miracle and have 136 baptisms. The thing we were faulta was energy and faith! Then we had interviews with the new president. They were so good. He is so laid back and his wife is a little more strict. The new president came and changed rules and we can can drink Coke! And we can play futbol with the members! 

So after all these meetings we finally got to go out and work with all our animo that we had. It was incredible!!!!! We started contacting and we were getting directions and then...!!!- Mom we saw this woman who had red hair!!! I hope you remember that I was looking for the lady with red hair that I pictured that day we were fasting for more success. I told my comp we have to talk to her. We talked to her and at first she was kinda closed then she started telling us that she came to Bariloche looking for something. She needs more peace in her life! Then my companion explained that we are missionaries and we share a message of peace. Then I looked at her and told her that the peace she was looking for is the gospe of Jesus Christ!! The Spirit was soooooo strong. Then she started to cry and then I told her that I had a dream with a woman with red hair that was looking the gospel.  It was sooooo crazy. Then my companion and I started to cry. We all hugged each other!!! What!!!!! So crazy. Here we are in what is supposed to be the hardest area in the mission and we found a lady who is soooo ready!!! We put a cita (meeting) with her and she ended up not being able to listen to us the next day... Yeah a little bummed but we are still in contact. Pray that we will be able to teach her! Because it was incredible!! This is my favorite story but we saw sooo many miracles.  I wish I could just call you and tell you all of them!! Then we went to a members home who usually doesn't want us to teach her family. She always says they aren't ready and we told her our miracles and then we told her that we felt the strong impression that her Mom was ready!! She said "I think so too Hermanas.  I can feel it is time for my family." So now we have a lesson with her Mom tomorrow!!! We were sooo happy! This is how you work with the members. Show them your animo and your hope and faith and then they believe it is time for their family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was soooo awesome! I just want every missionary to understand that it is the energy that we carry that draws people because then they can feel the Spirit!!!! Then yesterday we found a woman, took her to the church and she accepted a date for 8 Agosto to be baptised!!! What!!! So crazy. Yeah this area that is super hard just needs faith!!!!!!! I am so grateful for the new president! He seriously is giving so much animo to the missionaries! 

I do have a washer - the best thing ever Mom!!!!!!!  My companion and I are good.  I don't know I just miss Hermana Miller from Canada!  hahaha but other than that I am doing great! Thanks for the letter. You have a way of helping me feel good about my situation and that I am not missing out on what is going on at home. Thanks love you sooooo much. 

Serenity, have a happy birthday!! I can't believe Serenity will be 11!!! Ahhhh soooo old! And tell Grandma and Grandpa Bailey happy birthday for me too! I love you all and hope you know there is soooo much snow here. Awe it is crazy!!!

Today for p-day we are going on a hike in the snow!

Love you all 

Hermana Bailey

P.S. Hey and if you could send the letters from other missionaries in through dear elder it is so much easier. And hey I can recieve packages!!! Some peanut butter would be fun!!  Hey and what does it mean if your eye wont stop twitching!!! hahahah soooo annoying

Miracles!!!

This is in my apt. It is like a little cabin. I live in the moutains;)

Well family, 

Happy late 4th of July!  My companion and I wore red white and blue and were so happy to celebrate our country even though they just accepted that gays can get married.... Ugh I am very disappointed with the people of America.  I was reading in Moses when Eve took of the forbidden fruit and it talks about how God knew all along that Eve would do that and it was NECESSARY.  And I came to the conclusion that gays in America is not a surprise to Gods' plan and that he is just making it so the 2nd coming will come sooner.  So family, stay on the straight and narrow path. Remember that we have soo much progression to do. Even if you think you are holding onto the rod. One thing I am learning as a missionary is that we can always improve and hold on to the rod even tighter!!! hahaha I don't know if that makes sense.

So on the  4th of July, Argentina and Chile played football against each other and Chile won... ugh Then my companion and I realized that some of Chile's colors are red and blue which we were wearing.... ughhhh Yeah we ran to the pension because we didn't want to die... hahhaa I guess silly stuff happens when you have 2 tall blondes together. :) 

So Monday last week I was soooo down with this area... And after p-day we went to this lesson with an  investigator... (the old lady maria).  Yeah her grandson who is 16 lives with her and never wants to listen to us. We started to talk to him and he is taking the lessons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And has a baptismal date for 1 agosto!! I am and was soooo happy. I learned to stop being selfish because this is God's work and He will give us the people He is preparing in His time!! hahahaha but I am soooo happy that we finally have another investigator. It is easy to be grateful and happy when things are going good so I am trying to always be positive and see the Lord's reasoning even in hard times. 

Hey is Kennedi home??? I have not gotten any of her letters. Mckinzie comes home soon, no?? So crazy.  Cameron Smith comes home this month. And Spencer (orange slug bug guy) came home I think. Everyone is coming home!! So crazy.

Thanks for your prayers.  I can feel the help everyday to be more positive and love every minute I have to be here in Argentina.  

I saw some of the pictures of Hannah! So pretty. That is so fun. So many weddings!!! 

Tonight I am going to Neuquen for a reunion with President and all the zone leaders and hermana lideres. I am super excited I get to be there for the 1st meeting with the new president! I will try and send a picture. 

Sorry I have not sent pictures of my apt. but look how fat I am getting!!!! hahahaha I really hope when I get home I am going to be able to lose this weight or I am going to have to buy all new clothes. hahaha

Love you all. Thanks for the email Brayden. Thanks for the talk Jimmy! I was looking for that talk because I had a copy of it from a member who was an ex-missionary and I couldn't find it. But you sent it just in time. (inspired!!!!) Dad, thanks for the advise. We have a service project this week and we will use those menos activos.  I love the idea! Mom thanks for the scripture!! Wow God is soooo in the details of our lives. That was exactly what I needed!!! I love you all so much. Hope you have a good summer! 

Hermana Bailey 

Crazy Week!!!

All the pictures in this post are older pictures taken in Bethany's last area and pulled from the mission's blog.

Everybody pray for my area. As of right now we have 1 investigator who is going to Buenos Aires on Friday which means we are contacting all day in the freezing cold!! Yeah kinda stinks.... Dad any ideas how we can find new investigators?!! Anything that the missionaries are doing with the members that helps?... hahaha Please just don't tell me to work with the members because I am trying and I don't know how. Tell me how to work with the members better.

My companion has lice!!! So yeah that means I probably will have it!!! Ugh pray for us to find a way to get rid of it. I didnt know my companion had it until today and we have been sharing clothes and eveything... So I probably will get it. 

This week I had my first exchange with the other Hermanas in the zone. It was really fun! I went to Bolson which is another way pretty area. Because I am a Hermana Lider I get to see pretty much all south of Argentina!! Lucky huh???  It is so pretty. I was with a Hermana that got in the mission with me. I didn't like to be her Hermana Lider because we have the same amount of time in the mission. But it was way fun to be with her for one day. 

Last week we fasted a ton!! We need to have some more success and Sunday I was discouraged because our investigator didn't want to come to church. But then we got to church and 57 members came which is pretty big!  And we had an  investigator who is an old lady come without us even doing anything. We want her to get baptized but it is just hard to know if we should spend a ton of time on her because she is really stubborn and she has been investigating the church for a really long time. So I don't know what to do.  I just keep thinking, in PMG it says to look for future leaders in the church.  But at the same time If someone is ready when they are 75 maybe we should focus on them... Ugh I am torn.  I don't know what to do. 

This last week I fasted for help and we went out contacting with a member who is putting her mission papers in right now. I loved to be around her positive energy and remember how I was when I was putting my papers in. That helped me to see the bigger picture. I was then reading in Alma 26 when Alma and Amulek were teaching. The people were really rude and they didn't have any success. They had patience in their afflictions that one soul might come to the knowledge of the gospel.

Another day my companion and I were fasting and we were talking to a member. She was telling us her conversion story and I just was so sad that I haven't been able to teach very much lately and that I was feeling like I wasn't doing my job here in Argentina. Then I had this image pop in my head- a woman with red curly hair getting baptized.  I thought it was a sign or something so I told my comp later and we decided that we would keep our eyes out for a redhead. Well the next day we found a red curl head!! We were sooo excited. We ran as fast as we could to catch her in another block without her knowing that we were trying to contact her... We ran up this huge hill. We were exhausted and we finally made it to the place and we offered her a tarjeta. She started yelling at us and telling us to go to our country and to leave Argentina!! Hahahah hahahah what the heck!! Me and my comp just looked at each other and laughed!!! So funny. It sounds awful but one thing I am learning to do is just laugh at the crazy things I am going through. 

 Sounds like Lake Powell was fun! What the?! Your lives are so crazy. Dad won a 4 wheeler?!! What the?!! hahahaha I love it! 

Miss you guys sooooooo much but I know that this church is true and I know that the gospel blesses my life and I can't be selfish and not share it so I am here trying my very best and doing whatever God wants me to do! Love you all sooooo much. Don't worry about me.

Hermana Bailey

Freezing!!!

Kamiiii - freak - remember when you told me that I would be outside all day in the freezing cold and you guys would be boating?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   IT has happened!!!! The worst thought ever!!! 

My new area is beautiful!!! But we don't have very many investigators so we seriously contact almost all day!!!!  So I am seriously outside all day!!!!  Yes Mom, my coat is warm enough and my boots are way warm- maybe too warm. hahahah We don't have snow yet but everyone keeps telling us it is coming.     The ice we have!!!!! Not too bad yet but everyday is a little more and a little more. 

My area has so many many many hills.  We are hiking all day long. Cars and buses we never use. The first 2 days were soooo hard for me. I was sooooo tired by the end of the day. We would get home at the end of the day and I would feel like I was going to fall asleep during planning. Then we would wake up for studying and I would have the hardest time staying awake to study.  I would be drinking from my water bottle to try and help me stay awake, but I still could not focus!!! Ughh   It was horrible. Now I am a little more used to the schedule and I have a little more energy. 

My companion is super great. She is a really hard worker. Like the mission is everything!!!! Which is really good for me to remember to put 100 percent focus on the work.  Pray for some success in this area. It is a good area, but I really feel like it could use some help.   But anyways, here in my new area chocolate is a big thing so that is what we eat for dessert- yum!!! 

We had an open house in the church!! It was sooo good.  I will try and send pictures!!! It seriously was sooo great. I was nervous because I had to teach all the lessons in 2 min- every one! But the Spirit really helped me and I knew exactly how to do it. I really am loving having the companionship of the Spirit this transfer.  I have felt it so strong guiding us and protecting us.... One night we had this one dog that started following us from an investigator's house all the way to our pension! For like 30 min!!! It was amazing. God totally put the dog in our path to protect us because it was late!! I can't explain how cool that was. 

I am doing great. Dad, yes I have felt the Spirit really strong this week.  The only thing I really need help with right now is to feel love. I am really struggling to love the new area-to love the people! So pray for me to be able to love the people here like I did in my last area. I feel like it is impossible to love them like I did. My heart still aches when I think about my last area. It is so interesting how I could love the people so much. I feel like my heart is full and it can't get any fuller. A little weird no??? I just think of when I was in 7th grade and Mrs Updike told us when she had her 2nd child that she didn't think that she could love her 2nd child as much as the first but she said she did.  I am hoping that I too will be able to love the people the same!!! 

Dad, happy Father's Day!!!! Thanks for everything you do!! You are an amazing example for me. I am always looking up to you. You are so funny, and hard working but the most important thing that you ever taught me was to love and serve the Lord!!! You always always put him first and I know that is why you have so many blessings!!! Love you and hope your day was super special. Love you all!!!

Hermana Bailey

Transfers!!!!!!

Hey family,

Thanks for all the videos and letters. You are all sooooo great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey Kami, I forgot to write you!!! Happy later birthday. I was thinking of you on your birthday. How was your birthday?  I love love love the pictures of your baby! He is sooooooooooooooo cute! Yep you don't need to worry about having an ugly baby. You and Jimmy make cute babies.

So- yep I got transferred to Bariloche! This transfer was shorter because we are getting a new mission president. My companion Hermana Ringen was soooooooooooooo sad!!!  She cried and cried.  I think she was really scared to have to take over the area and have a Latina companion. Poor thing. She really did not know the area very well. She was only in the area for 4 weeks before I left. 

But yeah I am a Hermana Leader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy.  I think there aren't very many missionaries that have a lot of time in the mission. So if someone has 8 months in the mission... yep she is a Hermana Lider!  Dad,  to answer your question there were 4 other Hermanas that came into the mission with me that trained at the same time as me.

My new companion is Hermana Larmouth. She is from Nevada. She is super tall and blonde and super nice.  She was in my district in my first area. I loved her then and I am sure I am going to keep loving her and these next 8 weeks will be so fun. Being an Hermana Lider, we go to all the Hermana and have intercambios (exchanges). So I am going to see all the prettiest parts of Argentina-San Martin, Villa La Angostura,  El Bolson.  Sooo great huh?  This area is supposed to be really cold so pray for me hahaha. This area has so many hills so I think I am going to lose all the weight I gained in these past months. There is this really pretty lake where I am!!! Cool huh?!  Mom and Dad you would love it. And this area is known for the best hot chocolate so that is fun. Everyone here is super rich so that might make contacting harder if people aren't humble.  I heard this area is  a lot of tourists so maybe we will just be giving out a lot of pass-along cards. 

Saying goodbye to my companion was hard but the thing that was hard was saying goodbye to Matias and Joy. They got baptized when I was in Allen. Oh they were soooo great.  I cried and when I said goodbye to the members I was such a baby!!  Wow it is amazing.  I was in that area for almost 5 months and leaving just ripped my heart out.  I will try to send some pictures. 

We need missionaries soooooo bad. They are closing so many areas and it just breaks my heart. We just had 23 missionaries go home and only 3 come into the mission and all 3 were Latinos!!!  What is going on with the Gringos?!!! Satan is soooo real. Brayden, you stay strong because this work is way more important than a high school girlfriend or a service project!!!!!!! The mission will help you find a better girlfriend after the mission and a mission is a service project-but for the Lord!!! How awesome. Anyways that is my little rant. 

Okay, I love you all. Pray for Hermana Ringen whom I trained. She was soooooooo scared. She will need all the help that she can get. 

Love you all. Have a great week!  Thanks for the presents and pictures and Serenity thanks for the 5 dollars. My new area is super expensive so I will use that 5 dollars!!!! You're the best. 

Hermana Bailey

Positive!!

Well thanks for your letters!!!!!!! I loved them. You guys are soooo right- forget myself(Dad) and be positive (Mom). Those two things are soooo important.  Now if you think that is hard, putting it into practice is the thing that is even harder hahaha. 

My poor companion is sick. So we didn't do a ton yesterday. We just taught 2 menos activos and that was all. We taught a lady who is an ex-missionary and she knows the church is true but she doesn't want to go to church because she doesn't have desires to go. What the heck?!!!!!!! Sometimes we wont have desires to get up in the morning and go to church when it is cold or obey the law of chastity because it seems easier to do whatever we want. But the thing is, we need to do it anyways because we made a promise with God at baptism!!!!! SOOOOOOOo Dumb - what is this girl thinking? If I ever go inactive you all have to drag me to church! Because man this is sooooo sad when someone knew the truth and rejected it! 

Anyways, this week we saw soooo many miracles! For example we were looking for a less active named Veronica. She has the calling of family history, but she is inactive. We wanted to find her and work with her and help her become active and help the members with their family history ( because we are suppose to focus on family history). So we went to where we thought she used to live and nobody knew who this Victoria was. So we were knocking on lots of doors and talking to people in this neighborhood and I saw out of the corner of my eye-Victoria!  I told my companion, "There she is!!!"  We ran over to her asked her where she lives.  It turns out she lives way far from where we were looking and she totally happened to be in the same spot at the same time when we were looking for her!!! Whoa, God's hand is in that, no???? So great! We had a baby blessing in church yesterday and so a ton of our menos activos came to church!!! It was sooooo great!!!!!  But anyways, then we were teaching a lesson yesterday and it was super great-really spiritual. And now the members want to make me a birthday cake!!!!! Hahahaha yeah! Kind of interesting when we get in and help the members they are more willing to help us!!! 

Brayden you have a job interview!!! Goood luck! What is going on with the boys (cousins) and mission calls? Tell them to write me if they can't decide whether to go on a mission or not.  I will whip them into shape.  hahahah. Anyways, everything is great. Pray for my language because I need to be speaking better.  hahaha Cause If I can speak better people will be able to understand this awesome message better. Anyways love you all. Hope your Summer break is going great. And yes Mom, my coat is perfect. :) Next week is my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah and tomorrow is Kami's birthday. Woot- how fun! Last and first birthday in Argentina. Hope it is a good one. 

Love you all keep sharing the gospel

Oh yeah serenity I loved your testimony!!! It was awesome. Who taught you the Spanish?!!! When I get home we can talk in Spanish together!!

Letter

Things here in Argentina are freezing! hahaha I'm super glad for the wool tights hahaha. 

Training is going good.  Poor girl she is struggling.  I remember how much I hated those first few months and I think she is hating them too. It is super hard. I am trying to help her but there is not much I can do. I am trying to be positive and happy but if we are going to be honest, my area is really hard right now. Our investigator got offended in church and now she is like depressed. Okay for starters she is really dramatic with everything and she has been in her bed all day everyday because her ex-husband died. Super weird that she is that sad about it because they were separated like 10 years before he died. Anyways they told me they don't have any food or water. So I told her I would see what we can do but there isn't much because she isn't working and she isn't a member and I am a missionary and we aren't allowed to give things to members. So then today she gave the elders a letter to give to the Bishop and she is all mad at the Bishop because members of the church haven't stopped by to see how she is doing! Yeah super weird and she only came to church like 2 times so not very many people know who she is... .Anyways, her letter is pretty rude to the bishop. Would that be bad if I didn't give it to him? Because he didn't do anything wrong.  I don't want to have another person mad at him when he already has so many mean things said about him. I am really trying to take your advise and not take over and be the boss -just be a happy missionary and love people and through the love they will come to Christ. I am soooo tired of this area.  I feel like I am not making any difference. We had no investigators come to church yesterday.  Then after church we had lunch with members and they just went off about how we have so many menos activos because of the missionaries and I was just trying to hold back my tears. I feel like everyone is mad at me and hahaha I am even mad at myself sometimes feeling like I can't do anything. Sorry I am so negative.  I just need some good advise because right now I have no one to go to. And I feel like my companion is frustrated that I am not teaching her things right. Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I need someone to be training me to be a good missionary because I am apparently doing something wrong. But anyways that is the negative. Sorry.  

The positive-- Our 2 investigators that were just baptized are totally progressing and are soooo great.  We had a family night with them and they taught the lesson. It was so cute. Then I talked to the Relief Society President to give her a companion so she can be a Visiting Teacher!!! Soooo great! They are the thing that helps me keep going. Anyways if you could pray for the ward here in Allen we could use it because it is struggling soooooo much. 

I love you all and hope you have a good week. Oh and I couldn't open the video:(   Sorry I am sooo negative.  I have so much to be grateful for and I have seen some real tender mercies this week. For example, our appointments fall through and then I have a strong feeling to visit someone else and we go and they are totally ready to hear what we have to say. And Monday was a holiday here. We went to an investigators house and she told us not to go to this one street that we usually walk on and so we listened and didn't go there when we usually would have. Then later we found out that 2 girls had been attacked by 2 men that night. I don't tell you that to make you worry but to tell you that God is sooooo aware of me and every second of my life! Super great. Anyways I love you. Brayden get your license!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha and a job. I am glad you went on a date. but don't be lazy. Love you. 

Hermana Bailey