Sooo this week was pretty uneventful... we had a baptism lined up for Sunday. She was interviewd and everything, but the baptism didn't happen. I am learning LOTS of patience here, but more importantly to trust in the Lord´s timing. Saturday night we were running around 9:30 am until 9:00 at night. All of our lessons that day were toughhhhh. Lots of our investigators were having doubts so we were spiritually and physically drained. Wellington, an investigator that we have been teaching for about 4 weeks, asked us to never come back....so you could say it was a hard day. As we were walking home, we heard a car honk behind us and then a lady in our ward pulled up beside us and said, `´Get in Sisters. I am taking you home.`` That little act of kindness meant so much to me. I know the lady in our ward had much to do. It was 9:00 pm and she was running to the store to buy things to make Sunday dinner, but she stopped to offer us a ride. Do a little act of kindness for someone this week :) Also this week my companion and I were not getting along so great, and one night we both snapped. (No... missionaries aren´t perfect hah). As I was on my knees asking my Father in Heaven for help a thought came into my mind that I needed to really think about her and how Christ would resolve the problem. The next morning we spent 2 hours conversing, and by the end of it we were both in tears. We each thanked each other for the opportunity we have to be companions. It may all sound cheesy, but I have learned how to better resolve my problems. Before my mission I would have just stayed quiet or blamed the problem on others. However, we need to be humble and have true charity for others. Through the Spirit we can see others through Christ´s eyes. Scripture of the week: ``Ora, quando nosso coração se achava deprimido e estávamos para voltar, eis que o Senhor nos confortou e disse: Ide para o meio de vossos irmãos, os lamintas, e supportai com paciência vossas aflições; e eu farei com que tenhais êxito`` -Alma 26:27 Love yáll, Sister Bailey
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Transfersssss. I am entering my 8th transfer already!!! Wow
This week we had two baptisms!! One was of an 82 year old man - Alcides. His daughter is a super active member in our ward and has been praying for years and years that his heart would be softened and he would be baptized. Finally, on Friday he entered the waters of baptism :) He didn´t want anyone at the baptism... only his family and us. It was so spiritual, but what is even better is that in one year all his family can be sealed in the temple. His wife died three years ago and she was a faithful member of the church. Her only dream was to be sealed to her family in the temple. Finally it can happen :) The baptism was of an young man - Robert. He has been attending seminary for two months with some friends that invited him. He ended up loving the church and had a desire to be baptized. It was so cool because all the young men and woman in the ward showed up to support him at his baptism. It just goes to show the power an invitation to church can make. Also at our lunch appointment of Wednesday I ate armadillo!!! The lady brought out some strange meat and I asked, ``Irmã what type of meat is this?? She responded tatu`` ...which I later discovered is ARMADILLO. It wasn´t terrible but wasn´t that great either :/ Funny story of the week: I was walking to an appointment after lunch when I heard/felt something plop on my head. I look up and a dumb bird was sitting on the power lines. I turned to my companion and said, ``please don´t tell me that I have bird poop in my hair!!!`` She just started busting up laughing!!!! Sure enough the bird pooped on my head hahaha. We had to go this appointment though so I went and taught with poop in my hair, but afterwards we went home and I washed my hair haha ahhhh PS HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST FRIEND MADDIE KATE!!!! I LOVE YOU :)))))))))))))))) Scripture of the week: ``Portanto tende bom-animo e não temais porque eu, O Senhor estou convosco e ficarei ao vosso lado...`` -Doctrine and Convenants 68:6 I LOVE YÁLL xoxo, Sister Bailey Mom....name the singer!! haha!
This week was the fastest week of my mission I think. When I say time is flying by I mean it. This week is already the last week of the transfer! I hope I stay one more because I want to finish training Sister Corrêa and we have lots of baptisms planned for next transfer! We have been teaching a man named Wellington. He is sooo prepared by The Lord. When we went to teach him the first time he asked, ``Ì wanna know if Christ´s church is actually here on the Earth. What happened after he died!!!`` I looked at my companion and then said, ``Well that is what we are here to teach you about today.`` However, every time that we are trying to following our Savior, Satan is right there tempting us!!! We need to persistent and read our scriptures and pray everyday! Sunday we also had a baptism of a young woman that had already received the missionaries since last year. We went to her house Thursday and just straight up said, ``Sunday is your baptism, okay!!!`` She agreed and the baptism was great. Her grandma broke out tears because she felt the spirit so strong. We had to leave our house at 7:00 am to pick her up at her house and bring her to church. Sundays on a mission are sooo stressful because you are always running around picking everybody up for church, but it all turned out :) They also called a new bishop in our ward!! Our whole ward is excited again and ready for lots of activities. I don´t really have any funny stories or anything, but I am doing well :) My hair is blond now because of the dang sun!!! hahah I love yáll so much! Thanks for all the prayers. Love, Sister Bailey This week was pretty hard for me. I am trying to always think positively and be happy. I have learned that that´s the key. Time is flying by. I will probably get my box tomorrow because we have interviews with President Castro. I am hoping and praying that they bring stuff from Manaus. For my hump day I didn´t really anything... we had an activity at the church so I stayed pretty busy. But Friday night my companion and I went out for Pizza and ice-cream :)
Love, Sister Bailey XOXOXO This week has been super eventful. At the beginning of the week I was in Manaus and had to renew my Visa... it only took ages and ages haha!!
Tuesday I got to go to the Manaus temple which was a huge surprise and much needed since I have been serving outside of Manaus for some time :) I love the temple, because it is so peaceful and the presence of the Lord is so strong. Wednesday afternoon we left Manaus and arrived back in Rio Branco at 1 am. I had arranged with a member to pick us up at the airport. Welllll let´s just say that he fell asleep and his phone was on silent. hahahahaha thank goodness for taxis and I learned the importance of having extra money on hand. When we walked in the door of our house the phone rang, ´´SISTER OH MY GOODNESS!!`` hahaha!! Friday we had a training with Elder and Sister Leal. He is a member of the Seventy. It was soooooo good! I learned sooo many things and my testimony was strengthened. I know that the leaders of this church are men called of God, and we will be safe following their counsel. Also on Saturday, I had one of the most spiritual moments on my mission. I have a recent convert that I have come to love so much.... the only problem is that she has an addiction to smoking. We have tried everything to help here... I didn´t know what else to do. She is amazing and progressing sooo much in the gospel, but couldn´t seem to leave behind smoking. My companion and I prayed and prepared a really spiritual lesson. At the end we invited her to offer a prayer and make a covenant with God that she would never smoke again. I can say that I have never felt the spirit like I felt during that prayer. When she stood up I saw a difference in her and she said she no longer felt the desire to smoke. Then Sunday she stood and bore her simple testimony of the gospel. I felt a joy that I have never felt before. To know that I was an instrument in helping change one person's life is something hard to explain. I love serving a mission. It is the best decision I could have made. I am learning patience and how to love. I have spiritual experiences everyday that are helping shape me to be a better woman and future mother. This gospel changes lives. I wouldn´t want to be anywhere else!! Have an amazing week :) Love, Sister Bailey Saying bye to Sister Arbuckle!! I'm going to miss her soooooo much!! Sooo this week was a great confusing adventure but reallly fun :)
The plane tickets were super expensive and I needed to renew something with my Visa, so the secretaries bought our plane tickets for the 1st of June. We stayed all week (and we are still here) in the area of two Sisters that I met in the MTC. They were leaving the MTC when I arrived and now are companions in the field. I don´t think I have ever laughed so hard in my entire life. They are hilarious and my new companion is awesome! We all got along great and spent more time laughing than anything else. We split up everyday and the four of us worked in the same area. Wednesday at 4pm, we will fly back to Rio Branco. I am worried about about our area in Rio Branco, because we have been away for so long, but I know the Lord will provide. This week I don´t really have any cool stories... but I am doing well :) Love, Sister Bailey My companion is taller than me!!! I got word that I will be training yet again.... I have 3 daughters now! I am here in Manaus for a few days because I am picking up my newbie and then will head back to Acre with her. I know she is Brazilian but that is it.... :) I left Rio Branco at 1 am Sunday night/Monday morning then flew to Brasilia where we had a five hour lay over, then a three hour plane ride to Manaus. The Assistants forgot about us and we spent two hours waiting at the Manaus airport. I haven´t slept since Saturday night, so to say I am tired is an understatement!!! However I am good!! I should be returning to Rio Branco Thursday at about 11 pm.
Other than that this week was pretty uneventful. We didn´t have too much exciting stuff happen. All of our baptisms fell through, but it is okay :) Trusting that God knows better than us. It was so fun to come to Manaus today. I got to see all my companions (minus Sister Benicio who already went home) in one place!!! SO fun to talk :) My love for each of them has grown so much. I am feeling pretty exhausted, so I just ask that yáll pray that The Lord will give me strength to train my new companion, Sister Correia. I am really excited to train again. Every time I learn so much!! This week I was praying a lot a lot for each of you and your individual needs. Never forget The Lord's infinite love for each of you. Love y'all sooo much. CTR, Sister Bailey Pictures: Transfers!!!! This Irmã taught me how to make beans the Brazilian way, and the car packed full with all our suitcases! It is a miracle what you can stuff in a small car!! hahaha!! WE GOT OUR AC fixed!!! 4 weeks sleeping in the amazonian heat.... I was ready to die! We had divisions this week with the Sister Training Leaders. I went with Sister Carvalho (probably my favorite Sister here in the mission). We were in the same zone in Manaus, then the same district in Itacoatiara and now she is my STL here in Acre. It was a nice day to learn and just talk with her. Friday was my companion's 21st birthday! I took her to a cute bakery for breakfast, then we worked all day and then I had planned with a lady in the ward to do a little surprise party for her that night. We did a little party with our Sister Training Leaders as well. It was a fun day :) I am such a youngin' here in the mishhhhh.
We also had two baptisms this week. One was a young woman who has already been taught by lots of missionaries for more than a year!! She had already been interviewed twice to be baptized, but each time never showed up to the baptism. My companion and I planned a super spiritual lesson and were determined to leave the lesson with a baptismal date. We taught our lesson and the spirit was so strong, so we invited her to be baptized.. she replied, ``Noooo.`` We then invited her to kneel and pray with us. She stopped and was quiet for a few minutes and then said, ``No I am going to be baptized Saturday.`` We may have screamed and gave her the biggest hug!!! We also baptized a young man. His girlfriend is a member of another ward and introduced him to the church. The baptism was really special :) This week I read a phrase that has really stuck with me. An apostle, Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, ``Christ did to suffer and die to save us. Christ suffered and died to offer repentance.`` I never had thought about Christ´s sacrifice like that. We need to do our part here on Earth. We need to repent everyday, keep the commandments, and be baptized by someone who holds the authority of Christ. There is much more to our purpose here than accepting Christ as our Savior. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of action! Love yáll!! Love, Sister Bailey Sooooo this week it was COLD! I never ever ever thought I would say that here in the Brazil Manaus Mission. It was about 15 degrees Celcius (60 degrees F) one day. I was wrapped in my blanket during personal study and actually wore my hair down for the whole day. It seriously was a miracle!
We had an investigator that was progressing so well and then started hiding from us Wednesday. We were so sad because he was ready to be baptized. We prayed and prayed and prayed with our leaders at the training on Friday. Saturday morning he called and said he wanted to baptized that day!!! The Lord had touched his heart through prayer. He was baptized and confirmed :) Funny story of the week: We were making contacts in the street and I stopped a man and explained to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. My companion left him with a pamphlet and as we were turning to leave he says, `´Can I ask you a question... can I kiss you?`` I was taken off guard that turned and around and took about 5 steps back and said, ``NOOOO.`` My companion was waving her arms saying, `´não pode não pode!!`` hahhaaha We explained that we are missonaries. He then returned the pamphlet and walked away. We got a good laugh after. I am happy here in Rio Branco. I love our area, because it is the center of the city and we have lots of people to talk to. The work here is completely different from Manaus. Our leaders have a completely different vision and I am progressing so much. My companion and I are trying to do everything right/obey with exactness. I have begun to see a new light in my mission. XOXO SIster Bailey Read: Alma 34 Pictures: It is Cold!!! Meeting with President Castro. We got Acai bowls and Pizza!!!! Yummm!!! Our sweet baptism! We arrived here in Acre suuuuuuperrr late, but thankfully had a family there at the airport waiting for us. They are angels and showed us where the chapel is and how to get there from our house. When we woke up the next morning we had a member to go out with us/show us around. I have to admit that the first few days were really hard. I felt overwhelmed and lonely. However, I had to remember the hymn ´´Count Your Many Blessings.`` We had many members ready to help, lunch everyday, and investigators.
We picked up teaching a woman named, Liliane, that didn´t want anything to do with baptism. She had already been to church a few times but wasn´t interested. We arrived and instantly became friends. After a few visits she accepted to be baptized. She was baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday. It was quick but special. My companion is from Ecuador. It is funny because alllll my companions have been older than me... even my ´´daughters.´´ She will turn 21 in May. She is super obiedent and speaks really good Portuguese already. My area is in the center of Rio Branco which I love!!! It is a city pretty well developed and has lots of shops. It is a whole lot cleaner than Manaus and the people are super nice. We already have lots of people to teach. This Saturday we will have a baptism of a man named John. He is from Peru. He only speaks Spanish so luckily my companion can communicate with him. However, I can actually understand their conversations and teach a little in Spanish, too. I going to work to learn Spanish with my companion this transfer! Our ward is pretty tiny about 100 people, but it is a ward which is great!! I have been studying in Alma 15-25 this past week. It has given me so much strength to read about the example of the missionaries in the scriptures. Alma was imprisoned and beaten... he suffered hunger and thirst just because he was preaching the gospel. I am not going through anything nearly as hard. I know that if we search we can find joy in everyday and always we can learn from the example of the men and women in the scriptures. I am doing well! Thank you soooo much for everything. Miss you all like crazy!! Love, Sister Bailey |