Sister Alyssa Bailey: 10/28/13

Family I love you!

This first paragraph is exclusively dedicated to My Grandparents: You are the most wonderful people in the world! Thank you so much for the different ways all four of you have influenced my life! Grandma Rose and Grandma Burr--Thank you both so much for the letters you both sent me! You two are my angels :) I firmly belive that the Lords hand was involved in prompting the both of you to write me this week. I really needed to hear from you (and I actually have letters for both of you that I started a while ago...taking longer than I expected..but don't worry I will finish them today and send them your way!!) Grandma Rose--thank you a hundred billion for the lunch money, I will be useing it wisely today ;)

Ok ok, well I guess the Lord has a sense of humor cause he didn't have to send me to Russia to freeze me in half! This week I have been the most consistently cold than any other time of my life! I really don't even like being cold. Apparently this is the part of fall where it feels like -20 degrees when its actually 40 degrees. I'm not even being dramatic about this! Cause listen to this next part...apart from the outside being freezing, is the other part called our walls are very thin (cause they were build like hundred years ago) and we have all wood floors (another sign of coldness). Our heater is one of those electric ones that line about half of the walls (do you know what I'm talking about?) but oh wait...It broke last week. and we are dying. So after about 5 (hundred) hours of being too cold during studies, we called that landlord man (whose actually a woman, sister B keeps telling me so but I keep forgetting) He said, "oh we haven't turned on the furnace yet" ok bye. wait that doesn't make sense man. So we go about our day and this is what we come home to (see first picture below) This is our new heater. So we put it in between our beds and prayed that we wouldn't freeze to death that night ( was certain we would...or that it would catch our beds on fire...also a big concern). The next day we studied in our bedroom (and the days and days after that cause the rest of the apartment is an ice box) We haven't braved into the bathroom long enough to shower either...Just kidding. bad joke. We've been showering. but we hate it cause its so so so so so so cold. We do have hot water though don't worry :) Then last night when we got home. the heater decided it didn't like being used so much. So it exploded our extension cord. There was smoke and sparks but guess what it didn't even shock us our anything bad like that :). Luckily we noticed another heater our in the hall way that looked like ours...so we snatched it right up and slept well last night.

Other than the part of my life that is frozen. This week was FANTASTIC! (if you discard all the parts that were not up to par). Lets just talk about A___ shall we, She always brightens my day :) A__ is our miracle investigator that I told you about last week. This week, we took her out to dinner with us, a member and the elders. At the end of the dinner, the member Brother K___ started boldly questioning A___. "Why aren't you a mormon yet?" and stuff like that (total interrogation). The spirit was there though, so it was ok. He eventually asked her if she knew that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. She said yes. Then he asked her if she knew that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the true church. She also said yes. By this time Sister Bettilyon and I are about to explode out of our seats! She ended up telling us that she isn't baptized yet because she wants to make sure she is doing it for all of the right reasons (she had a friend that joined very hastily and fell away just as quick) and that she also intends on getting another tattoo.(can you say cop out?)

After dinner we talked with her in the parking lot for a bit. We kinda apologized for Brother K____ boldness incase she felt threatened or interrogated (which she did). She said it was ok and we got to have a really good discussion with her. She said that she knows that one day she will be baptized but that she knows the Lord has a timeline for her. Right now she has prayed to see if she is on the right path (which is being involved in her Lutheran church) and that prayer was confirmed. She knows more than your average investigator and well more than most that are ready for baptism. We shared some scriptures with her (Alma 5:62) and it really spoke to her. This was all on Wednesday, then on Saturday night she came to dinner with us to the C____'s house. She loves the C____'s. So do I. (Randon will be married to M___ C____ one day :)) We had another very spiritual discussion with her ("what have ye against being baptized?") and she came to sacrament meeting with us yesterday. It was the primary program. We had asked her to be specifically praying for a confirmation on when she needed to be baptized while in the meeting. She felt the spirit so strongly in that meeting. It was wonderful. We only got to talk with her a little after the meeting, enough for her to set up an appointment with us and tell us she is going to make us treats!. So on this wednesday we'll be able to talk with her more on what she felt on Sunday.

Now I'm going to tell you about the L____'s. Mumsie you may recall the email you received from a M___ L___. This is her family. M___ is the mother and only active one in her family. The sister missionaries found them some how a while back (maybe a mo before I got here) and M___ was over the moon! She has had many blessings saying that one day her husband will come back to the gospel and she felt that the missionaries were the answer to her prayer! So she begged them to make weekly visits and so we have been visiting ever since! T__ is her husband and super funny. We love him. Every time we come over he greets us with "What the hell are you doing here?!" but only because he really loves us and that is his way of teasing us. (he always gives us treats like cinnamon bagels from Panerra (don't even get me started on Panerra). B___ and H____ live at home (H___ is our age and B___ graduated a year ago) Anyways, our visits with them always go so well and the spirit is always there so strongly. Last time we were there is was so good! At the end of the lesson we asked Brady to pray (no one ever agrees to pray except for M___) He said "Yeah I'll pray" we kinda look really shocked at him and he said "You thought I'd give a T__ answer didn't you!" haha so he prayed and it was so good. Then T__ asked us about the phase "its the thought that counts" and if we agreed with it...yes? So then he tells us about how last sunday, M___ was out of town. While he and B___ were eating breakfast, Tom turned to B___ and said "Should we shock the sisters and show up at church today?!" "Well I don't want to go but if you do I'll come with you" was B___'s response. Then they decided not to come and they had already gotten us to say that it was the thought that counted. Which its not but THIS IS SERIOUSLY EXCITING PROGRESSION!

ha every time I write out a story like this one...I realize how unexciting they all actually sound...oh well just pretend with me :)

K___ and A___ got home from their cruise last night so we did a stalk by. They told us all about their trip and how wonderful it was! They stopped in Cocoa Beach and then down to the Bahamas. Ready for a victory fist pump?!--Listen to this: K___ AND A___ DIDNT HAVE ONE DROP OF COFFEE ON THEIR ENTIRE TRIP! FIST PUMP! They told us how hard it was with all of the fancy fancy cappuccinos and crazy stuff but they did it! yayyyy! K___'s baptism date is December 7th. What a good day right!? so lets all hope she comes through this time...I have a feeling she will. :)

OH my family listen to this! i was watching billions of mormon messages while sister b was on the facebook and I AM IN A MORMON MESSAGE! its called a work in progress...see if you can see me ;)

Ok here's the fun part of the letter called Interactive activity: Randon McKay and Austin James your assignment will be to gather up your father and all watch the best Mormon message called Sanctify yourselves. You will love it! Michael Ammon--You can watch that one too but your assignment is to watch the one called A Secure Anchor. You will love it! Ummm thats all the assignments I have this week. Mom and Jenna--you can watch those too :) and also here comes a challenge to erry one reading this: I challenge y'all to the the book of mormon in its entirety by the end of the year. We've been challenging many families that we have meals with to do this and they have already shared miracles with us just from reading their scriptures. its so easy people!

OK I have a few more things I want to touch on. First: Panerra. This place will be the death of me. I love it infinity. The C___s took us there for dinner last week and we are addicted! They have this soup called Autumn Squash Soup. It is like candy! It kinda tastes like that one squash soup that mom makes...with apples and squash..so good! and their bread is good and their sandwiches are good and their salads are good and...maybe I've been there too many times. If I don't come home at the end of my mission it will be because I am staying here for Panera :) (Zupas dosn't have anything on this place!)

Next: Mexican Hot Chocolate. Kill me this stuff is so good! We had breakfast with the elders at sister A___'s on saturday. She is Guatemalan and made us the best Guatemalan breakfast of my life! oh so tasty!

Have I told you about our ward? Its half spanish...only 75% of the spanish members are inactive. The elders are working on that (I dont know if ive told you anything about the elders now that i think about it...They serve in the same ward as us but are spanish speaking..we see them alot to colaborate ward stuff and they have strep...Pray sister b and I dont get it! we've been feeling a tich under the weather...) ok thats all.

Family I love you love you love you! Seriously. Have y'all taken a look at all of our family lately? I'm talking aunts uncles cousins grandparents...They are all so so good and wonderful! People out here don't have families like we do! so quit taking all of that for granted please.

I hope you have a super week and are staying warmer than I am. ok ok love you love you long time

love Sister Bailey

fall is so pretty here! Ombre trees are my favorite

OK these are the YW of the ward that love sister b and i. They dressed up as us for their halloween party. M___ C___ is the one in pink sporting my tag. She even got her hands on a necklace with a beehive on it and painted her nails gold like me :) Sorry the lighting of this pic is awful.