6/23/14 | YOLIMO

Good Day! 

This week has been a blurry kind of thing. Both Sister Suckow and I had these weird hazy colds that mostly just impaired our minds and bodies but not our spirits!!  yay! 

Tuesday started out as a normal day...until this happened 

Not to worry though--we weren't in the car when it happened. We had just taught Linda-the ex-communicated lady that is getting so close to re-baptism! She called us this morning to tell us she is on Alma chapter 50, last time we saw her she was on Alma 27 or something! She's doing so good! Anyways, we left her lesson and it was Lunch time. We were on our way home to eat and we stopped at the latino market to get some tang. (Remember when I brought all that YUMMIEST tang home from Costa Rica?! Well they sell it here and it is sooooo tasty! I got Pineapple Guava in case you were wondering :)) So when we came out to the parking lot...we couldn't remember where we parked so we were looking around for it, we both saw it at the same time. My jaw dropped and Sister Suckow exclaimed, "Are you kidding me?!" (Her frustration comes from 1: She has road rage issues 2: She had just put a pretty nice dent in the car the week prior by hitting a Philly sized curb in a parking lot. 3:That means she had to fill out 2 accident reports...those aren't fun but she has to do them because she is the designated driver 4: our car is brand new...

So that's probably all running through her head as we walk to our car. I got the phone out to call the Car Czar, Elder Jones, cause that's protocol. Luckily the lady that hit us was still there. It looks like she went to pull into our spot and didn't know our car was there...didn't even brake. Unfortunately the woman only spoke Spanish but a couple guys that saw it happen came over to help us out and translate. After a few hours we got it all sorted out and paperwork filled out. From there we headed to Macco to get an estimate...Just about 9,000 worth in damage for both of the accidents. No bueno. After all the paperwork goes through we'll find out if Sister Suckow gets red-dotted (that means she's not allowed to drive anymore). 

So that all happened. Then the rest of the week we did our best to work through the sick. We were in with fevers one day and migraines another. But all is well! We all know what sickness equals...a little bit of crafting: 

because crafting makes me happy when we can't go out and do happier things like missionary work. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it though, any suggestions? I'll probably make a facebook post out of it then send it to my mummsie because she likes stuff like this :) and I like her! 

Anyways, now I'm just going to talk about this book: 

I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON! Not only is it a pretty good read but it's all about how to get back to Heavenly Father! I got a letter from Annelise Burr last week (I wrote you back today darling!) and she talked about that one time we were all at the Ashton's cabin back in 2010, right after I graduated. I was desperately trying to finish my personal progress so I locked myself into the bedroom and read the entire Book of Mormon in 2 days; That was the very first time I read it cover to cover. She told me that I set an example of dedication and determination for her that weekend. I had no idea but I am so grateful for her little reminder that I still have that dedication and determination in me! When missionaries get sick, Satan uses that time to try to make us feel discouraged, Annelise--Your letter came to me right at the perfect time. I know you were inspired to write me last week so thank you for acting on that prompting. I've been able to read and re-read the Book several more times since being on my mission and I hope I will be able to read it at least 1000 more times before I return home to our Father in Heaven because that's what this life is all about; reading that book...ok and living all of its teachings, keeping our covenants, learning and doing all the good we possibly can and having JOY! I think it's a pretty good plan don't you? 

I got to study spiritual gifts this morning and that was pretty good. I'm fascinated every time I find the spiritual proof that the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and Bible are all the exact word of God. I was reading in 1 Corinthians 13, Moroni 10 and D&C 46 (sorry if I got any of the references wrong) and they are all alike in their teachings but all add to each other in increased understanding. From there I studied a couple really good talks called "An outpouring of blessings" by Sister Beck and "Gifts of the Spirit" by Elder Cullimore. Both good. Go read 'em. 

I love it here. The ward is perfect. I've decided we are going to turn into a ward fit for Clayton M. Christensen's next book about missionary work. With the boundary changes we've got plenty of seats to fill in the chapel and I know the Lord trust's the Reading 1st ward to fill them. I'm excited I get to be a part of their work. 

Happy Summer! It's getting reallllll hot here reallllll fast! But I'm a H2Oholic so I probably won't get a heat stroke anytime soon. 

Love Yous!,

Sister Bailey 

YOLIMO = you only live in mortality once 

6/16/14 | Happy Monday!

Hello! 

This was a good good week! We didn't get 10 new investigators like a certain favorite Elder out there but we got some good work done :). The boundary changes have been absolutely kookoo. We got the ghetto part of Reading put into our area so that is super fun :). My dear companion suffers from what we like to call CSD (common sense disorder). We were walking down the street the other day and she is just saying hi to everyone, which is good for the most part. Then she gives a big hello to some guys sitting on their porch....the replied with some sort of broken english cat calls..."Sister Suckow...you probably shouldn't say hi to people like that." "Why??" She replied..."umm, cause they are creepy!" Then we discussed which kind of people we should say Hi to and which ones we probably should stay away from and ended the conversation with Sister Suckow concluding that she shouldn't serve in Philly. ha I just LOVE Reading! :)

Sister Suckow was asked to play the organ in sacrament meeting yesterday but she doesn't play the organ. But she didn't let that stop her!!! You would have no idea that she didn't know how to play it! She did so good! and I ended up having to lead the music for a number so the ward chorister could bless the sacrament, that's right, the ward chorister is a priest! How cool is that!? 

We had to say good bye to Lori and Dori this week. That was super sad and I hated it. They are so wonderful and I hope they will be able to come back to church oh so soon! We had a lot of hand off lessons this week with the Reading 2nd sisters. Fun times in the PPM! 

That's about all we did this week, hand offs. So I'm going to tell you about the wonderful study I had this morning! I got a super lovely package from mumsie(pants) with not only the worlds best granola but will a really great spiritual thought about coming unto christ. I read through the quotes by Elder Holland and the likes then I jumped into the bible because I love it in there. I'm reading in John (FAVORITE) and I'm having a hard time remembering were my studies went from there because I don't seem to have my study notebook with me. Anyways, I like to do this thing where I make comparisons where everything relates to missionary work (because it does!). My companion thinks I'm crazy but here are the ones I came up with this morning as I read John 8. Heavenly Father and Jesus are kinda like a missionary companionship, They are two different people but are fully united in purpose. Cool huh! 

Anyways, I hope you have a happy happy happy week! I LOVE YOU!! Hope you had a great Pacha day dad!!! (and I hope you liked the facebook post I posted at you :)) 

LOVE, 

Sister Bailey

PS. Grandpa Bailey--You need to get better ok? Love you! 

The first pic is us and Lori, Second one is us with Dori. 

Dutch barn:

Strange wall art in reading:

my earth from the plan of salvation we chalked :) 

 I like tortles!

6/9/14 | Hello Yous

Happy Monday!

This week was super crazy! We had a special meeting yesterday where they scrambled up all of our ward/stake boundaries, which equals area changes for us! I'm super sad but also super excited because we get more of the city in our area and we get 2 more sisters in our ward! The elders who were serving in our ward are booted out which is ok because they get their own ward! A brand new ward! YAY! That doesn't happen too often out here...like it never happens so we're makin' history! So I'm now serving in Reading 1st South (instead of North) yay!!! I just love reading...and Reading too :). The down side to this change is that the majority of our teaching pool got moved to the Reading 2nd ward :( But the work will go on! So, despite many of these investigators not being in our area anymore, I'm going to tell you all about them per request of Mumsiepants: 

Lori & Dori: They are the worlds oldest conjoined twins. They are seriously awesome! We taught them about baptism and Lori talked a lot about their baptism (they are LA's) and what a spiritual experience it was. 

Roselie and Octavia: They are the Haitians I told you about last week. We are in the middle of their re-teaching and they just love everything about the gospel! We had to go explain what the boundary changes meant for them (they are in the 2nd ward now) yesterday and they were so sad, it was heart breaking, but luckily our Bishop got moved into that ward with the changes and is their new bishop :). 

Linda Daub: We teach her 2 times a week. She is plowing through the book of mormon like a mad man! She just loves it! We taught her the 10 commandments this week and she struggled a bit with the concept of keeping the sabbath day holyon sunday (she seemed to think you can just pick your own day and call it the sabbath) But I think we straightened her out. She comes to church every week but we have a hard time getting her to sunday school and RS, her brother is a member and is in primary so she goes with him and LOVES seeing the little children and how much they know about the gospel. Which is good but it's not exactly helping her learn the things she needs to be learning at this point. 

And now for a miracle finding moment:

Saturday night we went Chalking for a finding activity. It's when you put on your chalking attire (aka jeans), grab your box of chalk and head to the busiest park in the area. Find a sidewalk and start drawing things like: Families are Forever, I am a child of God, Mormon.org, etc. and BAM! people are just drawn to you (no pun intended). Little kids flock to you and want to draw their names on the sidewalk next to the temple you just drew and their moms and mommoms follow! So on Saturday, we were chalking and a little girl comes up to me, looks down at the mormon.org I was working on and asks, "What's a mormon?" (right question :)) So I just start talking to her, and answering all of her (100) questions about prayer and plan of salvation, everything! So we set up a time to meet her next week at the park when we go chalking again :) yay! Oh and her name is Jennifer Higgins :) 

Here's the run down of the daily we did this week...written by Sister Suckow :) because I'm too tired to write out something she has already written. And you can get to know her a little bit in her writing ;) 

"Tuesday was kind of a crappy day for us. Allergies are awful right now, and there has been a terrible cold going around. Unfortunately, I caught both of them. Tuesday was an in day for us because of how loopy and sick I was. However, it was nice because Sister Bailey got to begin the New Testament, which by the way, she's finished now lol. But we spent the day inside. I was trying to not cough out a lung or sneeze myself to death.
Wednesday was a day filled with service. We worked at Salvation Army in the morning, which was so good. We finally have the phone number for Dorcas, the assistant manager. I am positive that she is gonna accept the gospel one day and that that's why we felt prompted to start doing service there. After Salvation Army, we help Elisia clean part of her house again. It's crazy how different the spirit is in the home when it is clean. We went to Young Women's that night, and it was good. Sister Bailey got to meet a ton of the young women and I'm so glad! They all love her, which is no surprise because she's awesome!
Thursday was a good day. We had zone training in the morning, which I really enjoyed. It was really focused on helping the members with their missionary work. Sister Bailey and I have seen miracles come from applying the things we have learned. Then we literally spent the entire rest of the day working on our weekly planning. It was pretty good, and we were able to finish it in one day. I'm so grateful for that because it has been 7 1/2 months since I was able to finish weekly planning in just one day. But it was so good. :)
Friday was pretty good. While everyone in the family was at a wedding, I was helping a crippled woman empty out her house for a yard sale. Her name is Flo, and she's super nice, but she refused to get rid of anything. She had about 17 $200 watches that looked as if you bought them at Walmart for $5, but she refused to sell them, even though she never wore them. On the plus side, however, we did get to see about 150 dolls... Haha.... But anyway. After that, we went to visit Bonnie Murphy in the nursing home, and that went well. She is doing pretty good, just anxiously awaiting the time she can be released, which probably won't happen in this life, but we don't have the heart to tell her that. We met with Lori and Dorion Friday too. It was good to see them again and we love them a lot. We were able to help at the welfare garden on Fridaynight too, and that was fun. We were weeding, which made me laugh because it was such a chore before, but now I find it a little rewarding. Who knew?
Saturday was pretty good. We met with Linda Daub, which was super good. She really enjoyed the visit we had. We taught her the 10 Commandments, and since it wasn't new to her, she understood it super well. We also were able to do sidewalk chalk! WHOO!!!! The best part is that we got a new investigator while we were doing it. It was a 12 year old girl named Jennifer and she just came up and asked us what Mormons were. It was a huge miracle story and I was so thankful for the experience we had to meet her there. We have a return appointment for Friday so we will see what happens. :)
Yesterday was absolutely crazy. That's when they announced all the changes being made, and although I'm still in the Reading 1st Ward, we have a new bishop and half of our ward is in a new ward. Also, Roselie and Octavia, along with Elisia and her clan, are no longer in our ward. Trying to explain that to Roselie was heartbreaking, but she is ready for the adventure. Luckily, they don't live too far out of our boundaries so we can visit them from time to time. :) Sister Kohrman was freaking out because she suddenly was the only member in the relief society presidency, so we met with her after church. She told us that she has a lot of work for us to do, and Sister Bailey and I are super excited about it."

I love you all so so much! I hit my half way mark (as I'm sure you are all aware of :) Those sticker charts don't lie) this week, that is crazy! Sometimes I still feel like I've only been out of the MTC for like 3 days! But then again, when I'm in a public place and hear something on the radio...I don't recognize any of it = I've been out of the real world for a while now. It's actually a really refreshing feeling when you have those kind of moments out here. 

Fun Facts:

1: I'm going to be attending primary for the next 4 weeks...(sister Suckow plays the piano and all of the piano players have been taken out of the ward)

2: The Pagoda is now in my area :) yayyyyyyyy

3: I'm going to be a pro lawn mower by the time I leave Reading :)

4: Taco bell has a new thing called the quesorito...it is good! We were the first ones to try it at the Reading Taco Bell this afternoon 

5: We went to a baseball game this morning (so fun!) 

6: I LOVE PA! 

Have a super week! HAPPY FATHERS DAY PACHA!!!!! Glad you had fun at Walsburg and Basketball camp!

LOVE, 

Sister Bailey 

Philly a couple weeks ago with Sister Wright

me with a massive monopoly piece! 

us at the pagoda last p day :) 

6/2/14 | Reading Rainbow

Hello from Reading!

The Happiest missionary got transferred to Reading PA! That's
pronounced reding, like the reading railroad on monopoly...yeah, we've
been saying it wrong all of these years...well at least all of us that
thought we could read have been saying it wrong. Anyways, I LOVE
READING!!!!! It's a lot different than my other areas but its just
magical! It's a lot more open...not as many trees which feels really
weird but its super beautiful. Lot's of rolling hills, farmland and
backwoodsy stuff like dead possums in the road. That's what half of
our area is like, the other half is the city of Reading--which is
literally exactly like Philly without center city. It is just
fabulous!!! Rows and rows of the most charming row homes :). Did I
mention I love it here!? My companion is Sister Suckow--that's
pronounced Sue-ko :). She is so so so so so so funny. She's from
wherever people who go to Bingham High School live but her family just
moved to Alaska! So that's where she will go home to. She's been out
for 13 months and is 20 I think. She taught a year of preschool before
she came out here. She loves kids and has had 1200 embarrassing
moments since we've been companions :). There are 4 sisters and 4
elders in our district and they are all really great missionaries!
We live in a house. Yes a house...all by ourselves. It has a big front
room with uber comfy couches, a big kitchen that 2 people can actually
stand to be in together, 1 bath, our bedroom and our study room and
then there's the upstairs that we store random things in. It is so
fun! We even get to mow our lawn!!!!!!! We have a porch and a hose so
we can wash our car right here in the driveway for free! ayayyyah!
We have 2 recent converts we are teaching--Rosalie and Octavia (mother
and daughter) They are Haitian! How cool is that?! We had dinner with
them the other night and it was crazy! We had something....I know some
of is was chicken and there were plantains (I love plantains) then
there was this gravy...well she called it gravy but I'm going to call
it fire sauce. She told me to put it all over my food so I'm like "umm
ok, whatever you say..." Then my lips caught on fire but she fed us
cheesecake for dessert so it was ok.
The rest of the work here in Reading is mostly with less active
members. Apparently  it's "really hard" to come by a baptism around
here...we will see. It's been kinda a koo koo week so I haven't been
able to meet lot's of the people we work with but I love the ones I've
met.
We had stake conference yesterday! They had it at a high school so all of
the stake could fit, that was fun. President and Sister Anderson came
and spoke and it was just fantastic! Surprisingly I've been able to
meet lot's and lot's of the members here despite the abnormal meeting
today. They are all super involved in the work (WHICH IS INCREDIBLE!)
so we've met lots through missionary work stuff but I also got to meet
lot's of members at a funeral my first day here. Sad.
I had a real life Philly pretzel this week. It was YUM! I had no idea
what I was missing.
We are having a special meeting next sunday, they are making some
boundary changes in our stake so that should be exciting.

Well...any questions??

The gospel is still true, even in Reading PA! I love it here :) I hope
I get to serve the rest of my mission here :) Have a happy happy happy
week!

Love Sister Bailey