8/25/14 | Happy Week

Dear Family!

Hello! This week was the most wonderful week! Our numbers were through the roof and I don't even know how that happened! Seriously, as I was looking over my planner last night and reporting our numbers--I was like this is unreal! I'm willing to bet that the Lord had his hand in our work this week, or should I say His work :). We saw so many miracles! 

Oh by the way, my new companions name is Sister Casey. She has been out four months and is very happy to be here. She's from Montana and likes Fantastic Mr. Fox. After we met at transfer meeting, we hit the streets of Reading right away. I really like walking when we are working in the city because it gives you a bigger chance to "preach by the way" and talk with everyone. On Wednesday, we spent a little time in the elders part of the ward looking for some less active sisters. Because we were walking, we stopped and talked to some people and ended up finding

them 2 new investigators! It was so happy! We also found a referral for the spanish elders! It was an awesome day. But by the end of it, Sister Casey asked me if we could not walk as much the rest of the week…I said ok but we'll be back to walking everywhere next week :). #i'mnotcominghomefat. 

Thursday was good. We had district meeting and guess who is in my district now…SISTER PICKETT!!!!!!!!!!! She's the new sister training leader so I get to go on an exchange with her this week! Ah i'm so excited! We've already had so many laughs together since she got here :). We had a meeting with Sister Palacios (YW pres) about some of the activities she wants us to help her with. And she fed us while we were there…I ate cow heart. and guess what it wasn't even that bad!! just a little bit squishy gush. 

Friday we worked super hard too, taught a couple lessons, finished weekly planning, we even had a dinner appointment!!! It was with a young family named the Harrisons. He's doing his residency here in Reading. Their little girl was so funny! She kept addressing us as "Hey ladies!!" then would proceed to tell us random facts or do magic tricks like make her broccoli disappear :). After our dinner appointment on Friday, we stopped by a former that lived close by. Her name is Stacey Von Stettin. She invited us right in and told us her story. I guess her husband (who is currently in jail) is a member and she actually got baptized but not confirmed. She didn't act like she was interested in us coming back so before she could excuse us I asked if she would like us to come back next week and do a FHE lesson with her boys (ages 8 and 6). She lit right up and

said yes! So we are meeting with them on Thursday! She told us that her 8 year old has actually been asking to go back to church lately! I'm super excited to work with this family. 

Saturday we taught another bunch of lessons and had dinner at the Palacios (don't worry they didn't feed us cow hearts again) I really love them. After we ate we went to the church to do some Facebook work before the ZLs baptism we were attending. As we pulled into the church parking lot, I looked over and guess who was in the car next to us, The Jones' (from the office)!!! They brought Elder Ellsworth back because he was going to baptize Tahlia and her son. I was so excited I jumped out of the car real quick and ran over to give them hugs! I was so so happy to see them. To be honest I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and exhausted by the end of the week so it was such a tender mercy for them to be there! I love them so so much. We got to chat a little bit before the baptism and Elder Jones commented that I seemed a lot more peaceful then I had the last time we got to talk (which was right after that last transfer I had in Morrisville…ha which makes sense). I am also so grateful we were able to attend that baptism. The spirit was so strong!!! It gave me the strength to keep working my hardest the rest of the week. Tahlia is such a special person with such a strong testimony and incredible story. 

Sunday was wonderful. We stopped by Sandra's on the way to church, she wasn't feeling well enough to come so we cancelled her ride. Went to ward council. super funnnnn. Church was awesome. Sister Casey is really good at running around to meet all the members. I almost lost her a few times, that's how good she is at it. No one we are working with came to church :( Silver lining: we got to go to gospel doctrine! It was so good. The lesson was on Job. I didn't even realize there was so much to learn about job. His story has always been one that I only scrape the surface of because I thought that's all there was to it: Job was rich, bad stuff happened. Job had nothing but never lost his faith. So no matter what, we should never turn away from God. Lesson done. But wait there is actually more to it. In Job 1:2-3 it lists all that Job has in the beginning (suuuuuper rich!) Then all the bad stuff happens and in Job 42 12-13 we get an account of all he has in the end. IT DOUBLED!!!!! WHAT?! I had no idea that this story had such a wonderful ending because I was always so focused on how sad it was (even though he was still spiritually good through all of it). Get this: Even his kids are doubled because the first ones he had that died are still his through the eternities! Cool huh! So that's what I learned at church. After church we stopped at Rose's because we knew she would feed us :), we were talking with her and she was complaining about how her husband wouldn't take her cat to the beauty solon to get washed. "I'll wash your cat!!!" just popped right out of my mouth and the next thing I know, I'm on my knees in the bathroom wrestling with the fluffiest black cat I've ever met. Luckily this cat already hated me in the first place so this adventure didn't mess with our relationship that much. So that happened. Then we headed to see Sister Defrees, the 98 year old happiest woman! She is so cute! If you ever need cheering up, this is the woman to visit! Oh we also saw some hot air balloons landing in the parking lot next door before we went in so we took pictures :). 

So yeah, basically I had a super fantastic week. The spirit was with us all the way and it was very fun and happy. I'm all better from that silly cold. I'm sorry all youse were sick too. not fun. Oh my, I died when I saw your ice bucket videos!!! That one where Bailey cries is totally funniest home videos worthy :). Also, did austin get 2 buckets because mom got most of the water when he dumped it on the parents?? hahaha. I hope you are all having fun in school! I can't believe school has already started! Crayyyzy. Love youse all 100!

Love, Sister Bailey 

"Look for the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. It calls: This way to safety. This way to home. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing."

I don't know about youse guys, but I'm going to put myself as close to the lighthouse of the Lord as I can so I never miss a message from him :) #looktothelight 

Love, Sister B 

Me, sister casey and Sister Fisher (LA)

me with the Reading sign! I love this Read city!!! 

This is my transfer motto :)

8/18/14 | #readingfordays

Hola Familia,

Bad week.

Sick companion.

Sick self.

But it's ok!!! Don't worry it was just the worst cold in the whole
United States, I was on the tail end of it and Sister Suckow was at
the beginning. I think I may have given it to the elders in our ward
too...whoops. So I guess the highlights of the week are:
~I had mongu. It's like mashed potatoes but made with plantains. YUM.
~Suzie got her mission call!!!!!!!!....I don't think I've told you
about her. She's in the spanish ward. But she comes out and works with
us :). She's 22 and has been waiting for her call for a whole year!
She went to put her papers in a year ago and found out she had cancer
:( So she's been working through that and finally got cleared to go!!!
We went to her call opening yesterday and she's going to Denver
Colorado!!! How exciting is that!? :) She's so cute, she came up to me
after opening it and I gave her a hug and told her how excited I am
for her and she goes, "Where's Colorado??" haha
~Transfer Calls came: Sister Suckow is leaving me :( and so is Sister
Shaia! Booooo! Pray me a good one. I'm worried I've turned into one of
Presidents "fixers." You know, the one he sends companions that need a
obedient kick in the pants...it's hard and I'm getting tired of it.
But life goes on and I'm in Reading so I can't complain :).
~We are getting a new District Leader too! Hopefully this one will be
nice. That's something I really do not like is a mean District Leader:
Spencer (and Boss and Pika too) if you are ever a DL, be the nicest DL
in the whole universe!!! And don't complain about your area.
~I adopted a bonsi. Her name is Bathsheba and she looks like a
mandrake. (how often and how much do I have to water her?? and does
she need sunlight??? probably)
~I think Bailey is the cutest thing on planet earth, and so does every
one here. So it must be true!
~Washed Clean and The Power to Heal from within--2 really good talks I
studied this week.

OH! Maddie Peters from West Chester got BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so
excited I could die! AND her whole family came!!!!! See:

Jake and Jill's wedding looked so fun! Oh isn't marriage happy! Also I
have the cutest family and cousins everrrrrr! Where did Brooke get
that dress!? Too cute!

ok, thats all i got for today...have a good one!!!! 

Sis B 

We went to dinner the other night to sister copes house. We had lovely conversations which led to her love for peanut butter. Sister Suckow agreed heartily, then called me out for not particularly liking that stuff. Sister Cope was shocked and asked me what I did like. "Cheese" I told her. After dinner I helped her figure out how to use the gospel library app. As we went to leave, she tells me to wait. She scurries to the kitchen and comes back with a little block of cheese. "For helping me with my iPad!" she said as she thrust the cheese into my hand! I graciously accepted the offer because she insisted (and it was some sort of special Pennsylvania cheese that won an award from the American Cheese Society!--use that one in balderdash!) 

So here is me with my Dill & Chive Cheese #blurrycarselfie

8/11/14 | It's...august

Hola Hermosa Familia!

All of the girls in the spanish ward think I have the most beautiful
family! Especially my baby brothers. :) they all love you. Austin, I
am so proud of you for doing that most awesomest thing I taught you at
EFY. That is seriously hilarious! I told Sister Suckow about it and
she died! She also made me teach her how do to it ;). Ummmmm do ya'll
know that VALERIA CHAO IS HOME?! She is, I know for sure because she
added me on facebook.com. But I can't add her as a friend :(
#missionrules. Oh by the way, I got a hair cut! I'm sure you saw on
facebook. Do you like it!? I doooooooo and so does President Anderson.
We had Zone Conference this week and he pulled me aside at the end,
shook my hand real nice and said, "Sister Bailey, I just LOVE your
hair cut! It looks so good!!!" Everyone here in Reading loves it too.
So I hope yous do!

Ok so I met my new favorite person this week. Her name is Sister
Gruber, she's in her 70's and is pretty much home bound. When we left
her house Sister Suckow turned to me and said, "That's exactly how I
imagine you being when you're old!" haha compliment taken. This woman
is seriously a maze ing. We talked about Harry Potter, Lord of the
Rings and Jane Austen. And also snorkeling and hiking and even sharks.
Oh then we shared a spiritual message and talked about the gospel too
;). While we were there, I was trying to figure out who this woman
reminded me of (other than myself ;)) this was my conclusion: She
either reminded me of Sister Bailey from dad's mission or she is how I
imagine Grandma Bailey being like :). We had a wonderful time being
with her. Then we went out to Douglasville to meet Sister Eleanor
Defrees. She is 98 years old! Crazy huh!!! She turns 99 next month
(that means she was born in 1915!!!!!) and she is so sharp! Seriously,
I would have guessed she was in her 70's.  We talked about family
history and she showed us the oldest photo albums i've ever seen. It
was sooooooooo coooooool. She had a news paper from 1904 that had an
article about her mom in it! She also told us that she plays wii
bowling and beats all of the old men :).

We went on exchanges with Sister Handy and Sister Ririe this week.
They are serving in Reading 1 north. So not our old area but in our
old ward. She's an old lady that thinks she can still do
anything...like chop down trees in her backyard. We were making
cookies for a finding activity when we saw here out the window sawing
away at this big tree, so we jumped into our service clothes and ran
out to help her finish the job. It was soooo fun!!! I had never
chopped a tree down before :) Then she showed us around her wilderness
yard, pointed out some poison ivy (it really does look harmless...),
black berries, wine berries and Sassafras! YUM!!!! So sassafras is
what they use to make sarsaparilla (its a soda), so she just pulled
off a tiny branch and told me to chew on it...for some reason I trust
crazy old women so I did and my was it tasty!!! Who knew!? This woman
also told us about the creek in her backyard...it is very high in
iron--she believes it's because of all the Lamanites slain in it....I
don't know about that one. Then we went up to Hamberg to have lunch
with a RC Beverly. She made us PIEROGIES!!! YUMMMMM. I love those
things. We did some other finding activities, visited a very old, very
deaf woman (I had to yell "amen!" at the end of Sister Handy's prayer
so she would know it was over) Then for our dinner break, we went to
this old soda fountain shop (cause we still full on pierogies.) It was
so cute!!! It Looked just like the Blue Bird in Logan. I got a
Chocolate Egg Cream....yummmm it tasted like carbonated chocolate
milk....probably because that's what it was :). Then we went into
Reading to visit Brandi, she's the one that was very broken up that I
was leaving her ward, she's a less active and we went to go help her
prepare her visiting teaching message (she's a visiting teacher
now!!!!! yayyyy) She flipped out when I showed up. haha it was funny,
she's doing really good though. Then we went to the Welfare Garden.
The garden has been seriously neglected and it looked like someone (or
something) sat on top of the tomato patch. So naturally, I had the
really good idea to play some tomato schmear with a hoe as a bat :)
it was soooooooo funnnnnnnnnnnnn! Yous should try it sometime.

Oh get this! Sister Handy told me about a woman in Hamberg they do
service for. She made all of the set costumes for The Patriot....like
she literally made all of the clothes Mel Gibson wore in that movie!
WHAAAAAAAAT?! Isn't that crazy!? The Sparta people wanted her to make
the costumes for that movie too but she declined because her forte is
revolutionary war and other american stuff.

Wednesday was Zone Conference, we learned loootttts of stuffy stuff.
Sister Anderson talked about prayer and how we can improve out
personal prayers. President Stephenson talked about studying the
scriptures, when we study we must 
1: understand the content and context
2: Identify the doctrines
3: Feel the truth and importance
4: Apply
Try implementing this into your studies, its gooood!!!
all of the conference was really good but my favorite part of zone
conference is always the testimonies of the departing missionaries.
One of the former AP's was in our conference so he bore his testimony,
it was seriously incredible. He talked about how, like Christ's
Disciples, we cannot go back to our nets and fishes when our missions
are over. He ended his testimony with a firm statement of "I will NOT
ever stop being a missionary" it was super powerful.

Oh my I met my new favorite Sister missionary!! She is from Alpine,
her name is Sister Larsen! Came and found me durning a break and asked
if I knew Karlie and Shalie Taylor! YESSS I DO!!!! So we talked a
little bit about that and she knows Spanky too!!!! I guess she was in
their pref group. Isn't that crayzy!? She's the cutest thing and I
want to serve with her.

Cabela's was all that I could have hoped for last monday. It was super
weird because I felt like I was home in our Cabelas...hahah they all
look the same! Except for the one in Hamberg has an
elephant....coooollll.

Also we had a miracle happen called we went from teaching 0 RCLAs last
week to teaching 8!!!! I'm not really sure how it happened other than
we just had a lot of extra faith :).

Love you too the moon!!! Speaking of, there was a super moon last
night! It was so bright it shone through the crack in the blinds and
woke me up in the middle of the night! I just smiled at it and went
back to bed :)

byeeeeeee

sister B

8/4/14 | "All I know about Jeremiah is that he was a bullfrog"

^My compa is reading the entire old testament and this is what she
said to me when she got to Jeremiah...

 Hellllo FAmily,

What a week we had!
More Painting #earningtrust

We got an epic referral this week. This guy called us and talked for
40 min about this woman he met and shared some gospel truths with.
This kid is out here selling pest control, he knocked Jennifer's door
and she wasn't really interested in what he was selling. They ended up
talking for a little bit about Utah and stuff. When he turned to
leave, she said "Wait! can I ask you a question?" he turned around and
replied, "Yes, I'm a mormon." So they got talking about that. I can't
remember all that he told me they talked about but he showed he a
picture of the temple and taught her about eternal families. This kid
is crazy awesome. So he gave us her information and said he really
wants to come with us to teach her. I gave her a call that night and
left a message, hopefully we'll be able to contact her and meet with
her with Adam before he goes back home in 2 weeks. But from what I've
heard, Jennifer and her family are GOLDEN! Stay tuned, this story is
going to end well.

Here's another cool story that doesn't really have to do with me: One
of the Elders here in Reading has a brother that is working in
Baltimore for the summer. President gave him permission to come up
here and work with the elders for the day. They are in a trio so Elder
Beatty was able to go on splits with his brother. HOW COOL IS THAT?!
Sometimes me and Spencer just talk about how epic it would be to serve
with each other #dreamteam. Anyways, Elder Beatty's brother (we'll
call him Josh...cause that's his name) told us this super cool member
missionary story. He was sitting in the club house of his apartment
(or something) and this girl was sitting across the room, "she's
pretty cute, I think I'll go talk to her" is what he thought. So he
goes over there and they end up talking about the gospel. He invited
her to church....BAM a few weeks later He baptized her. COOL.
Missionary work is just cool.

I got stung by a wasp yesterday. We were at Carina's house after
church for some dominican dinner (i love dominican food.) and when we
left, apparently this wasp jumped in the car for a little ride. I felt
something on my arm but i didn't freak out for some reason...I calmly
grabbed it and threw it on the floor. Then I realized it was a wasp.
oh and it had stung me twice when i grabbed it. I guess wasp's don't
like to be grabbed. So then I freak out just a little bit and insist
that my companion pull the car over. I jump out of the car and the
little creeper hides under my seat. He was realllllll good a hiding
too. Carina saw what had happened and came over with a clove of
garlic. Before I could protest, she was straight up rubbing this clove
of garlic on my arm. Ewwwwwwwww! and she just goes, "its okkk!!!! it
will help you" and I just looked at her like she was crazy. Then her
mom comes over (she doesn't speak any english) and starts putting this
cream on it...I have no idea what it was but by the end, the stings
didn't hurt. Dominican magic. We looked and looked for the wasp but we
couldn't find it. So we gave up. I found it on my foot when we pulled
into our apartment. So I smashed it. The end.

Mary got baptized!!!!!! We were teaching her before the big switcheroo
when we had to turn her over to the Reading 2 sisters. But we got to
go to her baptism! it was so wonderful. She bore her testimony and
told her story. Here's part of it: She had just gotten a job in philly
and when she was hired, she told them that she wouldn't be able to
work the weekend of August 2nd because of her baptism. They said ok
and she started working for them. Then august comes around and they
tell her she has to work that weekend instead of be baptized. So she
quit! She is so awesome and so is God because just a few days after
that happened, she found a new job here in Reading that she doesn't
have to work sundays!!! yayy so she was able to be baptized and she
can come to church every week now!!! #miracle.

There is this lady in the second ward that I met on exchanges. Her
name is sister timothy and we became best friends! We bonded over the
mutual knowing and loving of Sister Emily Gottfredson :) (I played
softball with her in high school) Anyways, her birthday was last week
so I wrote a small little message on her facebook wall telling her how
much I seriously just love her. At the baptism, she pulled me aside
and told me she had to tell me something!! She told me that when she
read the message I had posted, she felt my sincere christlike love for
her rush over her through the spirit. Then she told me that was one of
my spiritual gifts, to have pure charity for everyone, even the ones I
don't know very well. I thought that was pretty cool. I didn't really
realize that that was a gift till we were talking about it. I hope
that's something I can keep with me after the mission too. Loving
people brings really great joy.

So...when we were painting this week. We kinda broke a ladder.  it was
really kinda funny. I had been up on this rickety old ladder painting
the high high ceiling corners and it was quite frightening (not
because I was up super high but because I'm afraid of heights :))
Anyways, I was too afraid to paint the part that didn't have a wall to
hold on next to it, so I switched places with Elder Beatty (who was
holding up the rickety old ladder) so he could do the scary part. He
got up there just fine and finished the job, he got about half way
down the ladder when it gave up....it was the strangest thing, it
literally just fell apart into 100 pieces. The top part kinda landed
on my legs as I was trying to hold it up and luckily it didn't rip my
jeans as it scraped down my thighs. haha I'm fine :) I'm also pretty
sure some angels were there holding up the ladder too because it
landed quite gracefully on the floor and neither of us got hurt.
#errandofangels

We have ZONE CONFERENCE this week!!!!! I am so excited. We are going
to Nazareth for it...oh I don't know if I've told you this but
Pennsylvania is pretty funny in naming things straight from the bible.
We've got a Nazareth, a Bethlehem, a Lebanon...the list goes on :). Oh
and We are also going on exchanges with the Reading 1 sisters
tomorrow. I get to go there with Sister Handy (I came out with her).
She is awesome and it will be fun to be in my old area :).

Last thing, WE ARE GOING TO THE WORLDS LARGEST CABELAS TODAY!!! I am
incredibly excited and they have a stuffed elephant there :) whoooo
hooooo.

Also I had an incredible study on the Sermon on the Mount this
morning, I came across a hidden talk called The constitution for a
perfect life by Harold B Lee. It is wonderful! I didn't realize how
much i didn't understand the beatitudes until I read this talk! all of
the secrets of the universe are in it!!! (That's what I tell my
investigators about the Book of Mormon to get them to read
it....justttt kiddingggg but now yous all want to go read that talk
eh?? :))

Oh and I got a hair cut, I'll send a pic next week

Love you longggggg timmmeeee,

Sister B