2/24/14

Why hellooooo,

I'm having a really really great day! Both Sister Pickett and I are remarkably happy!! You're probably thinking, "How??!!!?? You are already the Happiest missionary in the whole united states!!!" Well I don't really know how, I just know that I love doctors and priesthood power :) ok?

This week was fantastic!! I deffinantly wouldn't want to live it out again but looking back, it was just smashing! We started out with the sloopiest P-day in America filled  with King of Prussia--which in fact has the biggest bestest mall in all of PA but guess what we didn't go because I was too tired. Let me say that again, I was too tired to shop. Something was deffinantly wrong with me eh? Anyways, we went to the nicest doctor in all the land and he reminded me of Mikey. Super cool and he gave me lots of stuff and an IV that I thought would kill me. Three days later, a priesthood blessing from the ZLs and a lot of sleep, that crazy poison IV worked its magic and I feel so good!!! Basically the only symptom I have left is crazy fatigue. which sounds really normal for a missionary, but this is like nuts, went to bed at 6:30 last night and didn't wake up till 6:30 this morning!...maybe that's why I'm feeling so good :).

Wednesday went back to King of Prussia to get my blood work done. That was too much fun and a half! President called us while we were there and told us the mold came back negative on the apt. But then he asked us if we thought we had enough work for him to send some elders in to the area as well as keep us here. YES!!! So much work to be done! So he had a meeting with the stake pres about it yesterday so we will see :). After getting literally 100 tubes of blood filled, Sister Pickett told me I deserved a treat...oh there's a shake shack down the street?? ok! So we went to shake shack and I was the happiest missionary in the whole united states...you saw the pictures :)

Oh I also went to the chiropractor this week. He is awesome and I really want him to get baptized. We always have good conversations about the church. This time we talked about how Spencer is serving a mission in Florida. I told him he was in Jupiter, "I've been to jupiter!!" he exclaimed! then he told me how lovely it is in the spring there and how you can watch the turtles migrate in the middle of the night. I like turtles. Anyways, he is seriously the best chiro I have ever been to in my entire life! I was like a foot taller when i left! 

Thursday we had district meeting. I just love district meeting. Our zone leaders came to do accountability with us after. We were actually really worried about that because we were feeling like the most disobedient missionaries on the planet becasue of the physical things we weren't able to do because of how sick I am. They assured us that it was ok and that I needed to put my health first right now so that I can get better so that I can work even harder when I am better. Sounds good to me. They also gave me a blessing and it was wonderful! I love the priesthood.

Speaking of the priesthood, Kollie got the aaronic priesthood yesterday!!! It was so wonderful! He also gets to go do baptism's at the DC temple with the ward next weekend! :) and we are taking him to the Philly temple site tomorrow with Sister Albadine.

Now I want to tell you a little bit about the Lady that saved us this week. Her name is Sister Mitzi Busath. She is literally an angel! She took us to the Doctors on monday and got us squishy things to sleep on when she found out that we were sleeping on the ground at the Downingtown sisters apt. Then she bought us groceries. That sneeeky mom! She called us up and asked if we were home, then 5 min later she showed up with soo muuuch foood!! All fruits and veggies and stuff that missionaries can't afford. And on top of all of those good things, she is sooo funny and just lovely to be around! Which is good because that's what we needed on doctor day!

That's about all that happened this week. Lots of doctors. But I am feeling so much better already if you couldn't already tell :). O___a is getting baptized next Sunday! We are super excited for that! And it's starting to be a little springy here! yay ;)

I love you once I love you twice I love you chicken noodle soup with rice, 

Sister Bailey 

PS March is just around the corner and we all know what that means!!!! *hint wink* byeeee

this is what west chester looked like after the ice storms and such. it took them 2 weeks to clean up even the big roads!

but isn't west chester beautiful!!?

2/18/14 | Sugar Cookies for Breakfast

Good afternoon people,

Have I told you about the Jones'? They are the senior couple in the mission office. They are from Blanding I think. Their names are Cory and Marilyn--Do Grandma and Grandpa Burr know them by any chance? Anyways, they are my favorite people!! Every time we get to go to Broomall, I get so excited because that means we get to see the Jones! They came out with me :) and they will go home with me and they tell me that they think of me as their daughter. They take care of us :). Sister Jones made me a massive thing of homemade chicken noodle soup last week when I couldn't eat anything else. She is soooo NICE!. Last time we were there, I was wearing some of my goodwill finds (she always tells me how much she likes my clothes and they are always from the goodwill.) and she and Sister Anderson were admiring my sweater and skirt, sister jones goes "You should seriously be a professional shopper!" ummm done! I think I figured out what I am going to do with my life after the mish just like spencer figured his life out a couple weeks ago! (he's owning nike right?)

We have 4 investigators progressing with a baptismal date!! How happy is that!? O___a is getting baptized Sunday, Z__h is getting baptized on March 9th, and J and B are getting baptized on March 30th!!! 

We had Zone Conference on Friday and it was wonderful! President and Sister Anderson talked about repentance and the atonement.

Sunday night, we were driving home from Kennett Square from dinner, we were headed straight home because I wasn't feeling well. As we drove by the Lehmans neighborhood, I thought "we should stop by and see K___a" (she missed church that day). But then I thought "nahh, I'm way to tired to talk to anyone and we can see her tomorrow." So on we drove...we passed the second entrance to her neighborhood and I still felt this strange urge to go see K__a. No, I thought, she'll be fine. As we drove on, I kept thinking, wait what if this is like that one time we went to the Lehmans and they were having a serious crisis and we needed to be there to help them or what if this really a prompting from the spirit in disguise and I don't follow it!! That would be really bad! So I turn to Sister Pickett and ask her what she thinks about stopping by the Lehmans. She say's sure so we turn around and go to see K___a. When we got there she was kinda sad, she had been fighting with Z___h and was making some hard desicions on what she should do this weekend, go party with Hannah for her 21st birthday or go pick up Z__h from the airport and have some family time. We just talked with her for a little bit and showed her a mormon message we had downloaded that morning called Lifting Burdens (it's good, go watch it). By the time we were ready to leave, she had talked herself through the decision and make the right choice (she knew it was the right choice all along.) Before we left, she told us how glad she was that we came. That she really needed us that night. I felt prompted to invite her to prepare to return to the temple. She got really excited and wants to go back so badly! Then she told us that when she and Z__h get sealed, the only people she cares to be there are Sister Pickett and I. (and I'm sure Sister B :)) Because we started this with her :). In that moment I felt the spirit confirm to me that the work we are doing is right and we are enough. Even though I haven't been able to work as hard as I would like lately because I'm sick, it's ok and I'm enough.

We went to see her again today and she told us how she ended her arguement with Z__h the moment we left. She apologized and made her decision on what she was going to do this weekend. She felt so good about everything and felt sad that she had started slipping backwards in the past week. We assured her it was ok as long and she keeps trying and remembers to use the atonement! She shared the mormon message with Z__h and he loved it too. He told her that he had been praying that the sisters would meet with her because he found out that she hadn't seen us all week.  Click: Sundaynight prompting came straight from Zach. HOW COOL IS THAT!? I love it when you find stuff like that out :). and I love Z__h and K___a! Ok you know how they have the cutest baby!? Cash. Well I show them all pictures of Bailey because they LOVE her!!! and they started calling her Cash's Girlfriend :) 

I had the happiest Valentines day! We stopped by the apt on the way to zone conference and Sister B had sent us a really happy valentines package!!! so much glitter and princesses! Then we went to Zone Conference and got to see all of our favorite missionaries! (Sisters Shia and Daniels, the Jones's and other ones I can't remember) happy Happy day! Then we had to go to the appartment again and we had 3 more packages and 100 letters!!! I guess it pays to have storms that stop the mail man, cause then you get it all at once! Megan sent me the best/creepiest valentine :). Sister Smeeth sent me the best cd's on the plannet. I love CD's. Sister H sent me chocolate and Mom, you make the best cookies ever!!!!!! times 100. I had no idea that you were the worlds best cookie baker all of my life until Evan told me so. He is right. Those cookies were soooo goood! we already finished them...whoops. and the candle!!! you are too good to me!!!

I hope you have a really happy week! (isn't spencer the coolest missionary?? I just read his letter)

LOVE, Sister Bailey

P.S. Thanks Sister Paul for all of your words of encouragement!!! and I loved Brother Coopers talk!

2/10/14 | Ice Storms, Parasites and Mold.

This week was quite the adventure to say the least!!! We had some major Ice Storms this week. It started Tuesday night--the power went out about 4:30 that night. After the storms...this place looked like a war zone! Trees fallen everywhere...I'm talking big 100 year old trees! They crushed stuff and tore down power lines left and right! it was just crazy (I'll send pictures) The power was out for days! (it finally came back on sunday but i'll get to that). 

Wendesday: Snow day again...in the dark. We found like 100 candles in the closet, but they were those tall skinny ones that don't stand up by themselves...so we gathered all the mason jars in the apt (which was quite a lot...never give missionaries any container that you want to see again.) and put them in the jars and lit the place up! It was awesome! Don't worry, we filled up a pitcher of water and kept it close just in case :). 

Thursday: Zone Training at Broomall! Yay! It was so good, we talked about how you know if you are being a successful missionary (which was perfect because I had been seriously pondering the subject the entire meeting.) It was incredible, they had us pull out our handy Preach My Gospels and turn to pg 11-12: there's an entire list of how you know if you are being a successful missionary! Who knew! So if you're ever wondering if you are being a successful missionary...just take a look and you will probably feel better about your efforts...well at least I did ;). The only downside to the meeting was that the power was still out at the church building too so it was only a little bit freezing.  We got to spend a little bit of time with my favorite senior couple after the meeting!! THE JONES'! They are the nicest and gave us the AP's air mattresses to borrow while we didn't have a home. Oh yeah, we moved into the downingtown sisters apt that night. (little did we know, those air mattresses only hold their air for 2 hours...I guess it's the thought that counts :) and a blessing because now, after 4 nights of sleeping on the floor--I CAN sleep on the floor without wanting to die! miracleee.) 

Friday: Another day in Broomall cause guess what we got: iPads. We weren't supposed to get them till zone conference next week but then our Zone got called in early to get them cause we are the happiest or best looking or something like that. They are seriously the best thing to ever happen to missionary work! I am so serious! If the missionaries in Utah get them, you need to stop the missionaries and ask them to show you the Area Book/Planner app. It will blow your mind!!! These iPads will seriously change the face of missionary work so get excited! PIka--iPads and facebook will probably be a standard thing by the time you go on a mission! It's such an exciting thing to be a part of and to be able to see how these technologies change the way we are able to teach! So...now that I can literally teach anyone, anywhere, at any time: Who do you know that is looking for guidance and direction in their life? Who do you know that could use some help building their relationship with Christ? --let me know, i'll facetime them, teach them, and then the local missionaries can baptize them :) bam. 

Saturday was an amazing day! We got a referral from a member in Reading (that's Red-ing) on facebook. So we gave him a call and went to teach him that afternoon. His name is Jim and wanted to come to church sooo badly! We did a little HTBT and Intro to the BOM and invited him to church the next day, we couldn't stay long because we didn't have a woman with us so it was a door step lesson. :( After that lesson....we got lost in the middle of nowhere forest for an hour!!! It was getting so ridiculous that I pulled out my camera and took a little video of the landscape and all the sudden there's a road sign that says "Lost Trail." That gave us zero confidence in where we were headed but we finally worked it out. Once our GPS started working again, it led us to a road that we were familiar with. Then there was a road block because of fallen trees and power lines and stuff so we had to flip around back into no mans land. We ran into a few more road blocks and finally just pulled over for a second. Sister Pickett was a little bit freaking out at this point (she's the designated driver) because there was so much ice on the roads. We didn't have cell service (the storm plowed down the cell towers so our service was pretty spotty all week...and by spotty I mean non existent.) So we said a prayer and both felt like it would be best if I drove us out of there. So we switched, I drove us down the road to the next stop sign. I had a prompting that we should switch back for some reason, so I told sister Pickett and we did even though she was still afraid to drive. As we continued down the road we came to two really skinny

 turns and right before we got to the turns a big truck came speeding through them! If we hadn't have stopped both of those times, we probably would have been hit by him! Crazy! No random thought eh? ----Interjection: uhhh we are just minding out own business, writing emails and a little boy just came up to us and asked us if we worked here, I told him no and that we were missionaries for our church. He said "oh ok, because me and my mom are looking for a church to go to" ooookkkkkkk awesome!----

Sunday: K___e was confirmed!! Yay it was so awesome and he was so happy!!! He is going to be the best member missionary! He asked us the other day when we were teaching him about temples why there aren't more temples in Africa? We told him that there has to be enough members before they would build one, so he told us he was going to "capture all of his friends in Liberia" so they would have enough members there for a temple :) hahaha. OH Before church we went and taught O___a, She has been coming to church with a member we reactivated since christmas. She came and found us last week and told us she wanted to learn :) So we got to her house and before we could even start teaching she askes "Can I be baptized?" umm YES! So we taught her the restoration and she just ate it right up! Loved everything we taught her! Then we committed her to be baptized on March 2nd...But she wanted to get baptized sooner so we moved it up toFeb 23rd :) yay! Jim Came to church and everybody loved him and made him feel so welcomed! He told his friend in reading that he felt so good at the church and definitely felt the spirit! He can't wait to come to church next week! We are going to invite him to be baptized on the 16th of March :) yay! So many miracles! So after church, we did our usual rounds to talk to all the members we needed to and such. We went to leave and there was all of the sudden sooo muchhh snowww! The elders were leaving at the same time as us and so we called Elder Jones (because he is in charge of all the mission cars) and he told us not to drive out in the storm. So we hunkered down with our handy dandy ipads and got to work....and it kept snowing and snowing and snowing and we were worried that we would be stuck at the church all night until finally at 7:45 we were able to get a hold of a member with a 4 wheel drive car to come get us :) So that was fun. 

This morning I went to the dr to find out what the goodness is wrong with me an he diagnosed me with Mold poisoning and a lovely Parasite friend. YAY! now that they know what's wrong they can fix it!! So that's the good news of the day! :) 

This week was filled with miracles even through all the weird happenings!!! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic Valentines day! I get to go to Zone Conference on Valentines :) and last but not least HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIKA BABY!!!! I love you I love you I love you to the moon and back at least...3 times!!! (oh and late birthday wishes to the baby queen b :) your present has been delayed due to ice storms and crayyycrayyy but i love you anyways :)).

Here's a thought: When we left our Heavenly Father's presence, it was for merely the afternoon of his time. Just like when mom sends Bossy off to play with Brandon Bush probably every Saturday or brings Pika over to Dillons house for the evening, she tells us to be good and remember who you are (ok not always but I'm sure she's thinking it!) just like our Father told us when we left his home to come here "remember who you are!" What are you going to do with this short afternoon you have here on earth to prove yourself and become worthy to be called His son's and daughters? What are you going to do that will bring you and others into His presence forever?...just a thought

LOVE YOU!!! -Sister Bailey

It was Elder Leavitts birthday on friday, so we made him a cake in the dark of our apt on thursday night :) thank goodness we have a gas stove :)

just a pic of me...sharing the gospel, on my iPad, at Panera :) nbd

2/4/14 | Three Cheers for the Happiest Week!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!!

First of all, I just NEED to tell you how happy I am! I just got word from my dearest Sister Battle Hymn of the Republic that she tested POSITIVE for Lymes!! Three cheers for a diagnosis! She's seeing her Doc today and they will create a game plan for her to come back to Penny! Hooraahh! I can hardly wait! I actually started crying happiness when I read her facebook.commessage telling me the news! But that was just the cap on the most bested week in the whole United States!

Funny tidbit before I get into the good stuff: It snowed maybe 5 in yesterday...Pennsylvania SHUTS DOWN when it snows! Seriously, they act like it doesn't happen every year. The plows don't come out for hours and everything is closed. Which is why we had a snow day yesterday. I took naps :) and laminated my PMG with pretty. I'll have to send you a picture next week.

Sunday-Happiest day of the Mission! K___e F___o was baptized! He is the most incredible person I have ever met let alone been blessed to teach the gospel to! He even taught us the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We left him the pamphlet and told him that's what we would be teaching next time, when we came, he had read, re-read and studied that pamphlet inside and out! Then he taught it to us! It was amazing! He wants to serve a mission but he's already 26 so he can't :( Oh well, he'll just have to be the BEST member missionary that West Chester has ever seen! I have no doubt that he'll do just that :)

We just had so many miracles this week! We trusted in the Lord and prayed and prayed and had lots of faith! Guess what--It worked! We taught almost a billion lessons this week and got 2 super solid investigators! One found us a church. She is from Africa and asked us to teach her (sounds a little familiar eh? Somthin about those Africans!) The other one's named L___n. She is friends with M___e and came over to M___e's house while we were there on Saturday. She is soooo thirsty for the gospel! I just started chatting with her and stuff, she likes books so that wasn't too hard :) Turns out she hasn't read a scripture for like 4 years and was basically jumping out of her chair when we read from Mosiah. We have an appointment with her tomorrow! We are so excited to teach her!

Ok, here's a weird story about following spiritual promptings (no random thought!) We were at the Library in Exton on Saturdayevening--the Mall is right across the street so we sometimes go there to eat at the food court. We went to eat there (saladworks...oh my gosh this place is soo good! like better than Zupas and Panera combined!) There was this cute girl with a baby that sister pickett talked to while I was ordering my food. She sounded interested in hearing more about the message that we share and we gave her our number :) Then we ate. While we were eating, I just kept thinking about this girl that we met in a store called Francescas earlier in the week. She worked there and was really nice! For some reason we didn't share a message with her...no bueno. So I just keep thinking about her and I tell sister Pickett. We decide that we'll go and see if she is working. So we go to the store and look around a tiny bit...she wasn't there, but there was a really awesome watch that was on sale that I had seen the other day when we were there...so I bought it. It's one with links (like dad's watch that's fun to play with) and was a little bit too big. The girl at the register told me that there was a kiosk down the way that could take a link out for me. We were just going to go but we felt like we should go fix the watch right then for some reason. So we went and found the kiosk and gave my watch to this girl to fix. She was so nice! I just started talking to her, where she's going to school, what she's studying and stuff, we talked about books (she was reading a book and is an english lit major) talked about some similar classes we have both taken bla bla bla. I bring up that I'm from Utah and why I'm here. The watch fixing is taking quite a bit of time so we just keep chatting about the church, missionary work and stuff. Then when she finished the watch, I asked her if she knew anyone who would be interested in meeting with us. She said, "yeah! I might, can I have your number so I can give you a call?" uhhh yes! So I gave her our information and off we went! --this was a pretty normal encounter right? well normal for me, and most other missionaries out there. Unfortunately we haven't heard from her yet (but college kids take their time with stuff like that) but I'm sure something good will come of that. Wait, the story doesn't end there! The next day, Sunday, we were sitting in Relief Society waiting for it to start. Sister Moyer and Sister....forgot her name were sitting behind us and they lean forward and say, "ohh is that the famous watch?!" umm what? Yeah this is a new watch..do you like it? I really didn't know what do say. Then they proceed to tell me that sister somthingrather was on the other side of the kiosk during my conversation with the watch girl! In Sunday School, she commented and told a story about how she was at the mall yesterday and waiting at a kiosk to get her watch fixed. The girl in front of her was taking forever and just chatting up a storm! She was getting rather irritated and moved over so she could see the culprit...it was Sister Bailey! And she was sharing the gospel with this girl that was fixing her watch! Bla bla bla on and on, her point in sharing that was to ask "Are WE sharing the gospel with everyone we meet? Are WE being the member missionaries that we should be?" How cool is that?! People are watching you! Even if it's just God watching, it's always important (especially as missionaries) to be fulfilling our purpose at all times!! :) So weather the "random thoughts" and promptings were for that girl at the kiosk or for the ward that heard the story I don't know but either way, It's a pretty good out come ;)

I love the gospel (if you couldn't tell :)) and I LOVE SHARING IT! It's seriously the funnest thing! Y'all should try it every now and again..or every day! You will LOVE IT too! and you'll get blessings! yay! I hope you ALL are reading your scriptures EVERY DAY!  I promise that will make you happy happy happy! I love you all and have a really good week!

Love, Sister Bailey

WAIT!! I forgot a really awesome miracle story that I MUST share! K___a D___s: the L___'s daughter. We are teaching her husband Z___. Anyways, She was going to go to North Carolina this weekend to visit her old friends. She kept getting promptings that she should just stay home and was having a hard time figuring out what she should do. She knew that if she went, it would be really hard to say no to some of the things her friends would want to do. She going though this all week, going back and forth on what she should do1 We met with her on thursday and she told us what was going on. We didn't want to tell her what we thought she should do because she knew what she "should" do. She just had to make that decision on her own. She told us she also had a strong feeling that she needed to bear her testimony! That was another reason why she wanted to stay home, so she could come to church and do it! Luckily, Cash got sick on friday night and she "had" to stay home. She was so happy! :) we were so happy too! So on Sunday, 1 o clock came rolling around and kayla wasn't at church yet..I texted her to see where she was....she thankfully came in 5 min late! she sat by me and said "satan is trying so hard to stop me!!! I almost didn't come!" The meeting started and the spirit was so strong! She was feeling it and was crying! I put my arm around her and she said "I can't do it! I'm already crying and I can't go up there!" I encouraged her and told her it was ok! Mid meeting, I gave her a pat on the back and up she went! Her testimony was so sweet and so powerful! She talked about when we visited her on thursday, we taught about the tree of life and how sweet that fruit really is. How she and her family can all partake of it! She mentioned how she was planning on going to NC and felt bad about going "Sister Bailey looked me straight in the eye and asked me if I had thought about staying home?" She said that made the change, gave her the courage to stay home and not feel bad about not seeing her friends. She bore a wonderful testimony and everyone was in tears! after the meeting several people came up to her and thanked her for her testimony. Lot's of people came up to me and asked when she was getting baptized! hahah She's already baptized but over the past month of meeting with her, I have had the privilege to watch her become Truly Converted! She is taking those baby steps back into the gospel and it shows in her countenance. She told us that he had no desire to drink, no desire to dress immodestly and she looks at us and the way we dress and wants to look as beautiful and happy as we are! She has invited the spirit back into her life and it is beautiful!

Love you!