9/29/14 | Silver Lining

Well, it looks like I will be in Reading for 6 months total #readingfordayz

I've been taking baby steps to find the silvers linings of this unexpected {non} twist in the plot of my mission. 

1: I have been blessed with the opportunity to watch the wonderful hills of Reading turn into a fire-y picture perfect fall. It's coming quick :)

2: I just got a free download of David Archuleta singing one of my favorite songs. It's called Glorious. Go get it { https://www.facebook.com/meetthemormons?sk=app_107727025983833 } 

3: We are getting two new elders in our ward (uhhh hopefully, our elders got doubled out so I'm assuming they will be replaced but you never know.) 

4: The Elders that got doubled out gave us their blender. Smoothiessss!!!! yay. 

5: Sister Pickett is also staying here 

That's what I've got so far, so I'll tell you about my week now. 

I went on an exchange with Sister Pickett on Monday and Tuesday. What a happy happy time we had! We went to serve at a food pantry thing at a lutheran church. We've both been to a few of those so we thought we knew the basic drill of how those things go…but this one was rather strange and sketchy. We got all of the food set up for the homeless people to come in and get their rations for the week but before they let them in to get their food, the woman in charge announced that all of the volunteers could go fill up their big boxes with food for themselves. WHAT?? I've never heard of volunteers getting food first. weird. Then later we hear them complaining that they need to go to work later. hmmmm jobs don't equal you needed all of that free food that was intended for homeless people does it now?? very strange, needless to say we left that service project rather puzzled and feeling quite yucky. I don't believe the sisters will be going back to help that food pantry. But guess what! Silver Lining: I met a Russian woman there that wants us to come over! I don't know if she wants us to teach her but she was super nice and obviously is in need of a little more true gospel in her life. 

On Wednesday we went on a little road trip to the Pocanos. Those are mountains that are apparently a big deal. They were beautiful if you classify them as hills. :). We went up there to go to Sister Casey's doctors appointment to get her depression meds…which she decided she didn't need so she didn't get them. Wonderful. Silver Lining: Sister Woodman from our ward brought us up there and took us to lunch at Wegmans!!! WHOOO I love Wegmans! If you just googled that you are probably realizing it is a grocery store. Well, (Mum, Dad, and Jenna) remember Stu Lenards?? What a wonderful grocery store that is! Well picture a costco version of that and you get wegmans, they have a cafe too with the most yummiest foods :). I ate sushi and kale salad and was the happiest missionary. 

Thursday was District Meeting. We played Scripture Jeopardy. Learned lots of things like why missionaries aren't supposed to keep score in games. ha. It was probably the strangest district meeting I've attended but at least the AP's didn't show up this week (They surprise came last week). Weekly planning turned into a counseling session with my compa. I ended up inviting the Sister Training Leaders to join us for extra support. It went well I suppose. Maybe Heavenly Father is trying to give me a hint or two on what career path I should take…

Friday. I don't recall what we did that day. That's what usually happens to my brain on Transfer call days--Mush. My companion snuck away to bed at 7:30…you may be wondering how she did that without me noticing. Well, we took a break from our planning session. I cozy up on my blue comfy chair with my fox blanket and watch a mormon message. Next thing I know she is gone. Ok then. So I planned for the next day and watched all the mormon messages and it was a wonderfully peaceful evening. The Zone Leaders called at 9:45, "Hello, this is Sister Bailey" "Ah Shoot!" was the response I hear. I don't think anyone has ever responded to me that way. Apparently they meant to call the District Leader with the transfer news instead of me, I tried to coax them to just tell me instead but gave up rather quickly considering that the faster they called the DL = the faster I hear the transfer news. So I hung up and waited another 30 min (why on earth it takes that long I will never know) We got the call and we are both staying, I was sad so I brought my fox blanket out on the porch with me and perched up on my sun chair the Thompsons gave me (they are the ones that check our apartments…they noticed I had placed one of the kitchen table chairs on the porch and sensed that I surely needed a sun chair…which I readily accepted with gladness) I looked at the stars and talked with God till he told me it would be ok. 

The rest of the weekend was hard. The women's broadcast couldn't have come at a better time. We watched it in our chapel, on a rather small television set, it was black and white and super glitchy to the point that we would all find ourselves very dizzy if we watched the screen. One girl actually had a seizure at the end of the meeting no doubt from the bad connection. Silver Lining: The sound was almost perfect! and when it would cut out it never skipped enough that we couldn't figure out what was just said! :) I loved everything that was shared in the meeting. They talked lots about temples and our covenants. I told President Anderson in my email to give me a call next time he goes to the temple so I can tag along :). I especially loved President Uchtdorfs message. He asked us this thought provoking question: Do you view obedience as a healthy but hated plate of vegetables? HA he caught me because sometimes I do. Especially the ones that involve me waking up in the morning and working out in the cold! He told us that the commandments are not simply good suggestions, life hacks or inspirational quotes. they are loving instruction, a divine road map, an eternal gps. So we should do our best to follow them I think. Before you know it, the commandments will become YOUR hearts desires! But this was my favorite part: He sees your efforts to help lift up others burdens when you are struggling yourself. You will discover your best self - Your real self! yay That's what we all want so follow the commandments and keep your covenants :)

I did have some other very good insights over the weekend that helped me very much in coming to terms with the fact that I am staying here. Matt 11:28-30--I caught myself earlier in the transfer while pondering on that scripture thinking this, "I have 'come unto him'--chosen the path he offers and invites us to attend, where is my 'rest'?!" I felt heavily burdened down by the weight and responsibility of my current situation. The word 'rest' in Hebrew is 'nuach' which means to guide or lead another into a place or state of rest. So the 'rest' he talks of in this scripture in not talking about a la la land of day dreams where we don't have to do anything but sit on comfy chairs and eat grapes. The 'rest' he speaks of is 1: Peace unto our souls. This peace can sometimes be looked over in times of trial I think. If we are not careful, we can find ourselves so overwhelmed that we do not recognize the peace He is offering us. 2: the rest (if using the Hebrew interpretation) is Him leading us to a permanent state of real rest, pure joy and eternal happiness. Sometimes that is what we are looking for instantly but it is not something he can give us until we have faithfully endured to the end. He tells us to "take his yoke upon us" and "learn of Him." I was given an interesting article about yokes and the Hebrew understanding of "learning" which can be seen as two oxen yoked together for plowing (the sister that taught RS yesterday gave me her notes from her lesson which was coincidentally on this subject). The article explains, "An older, stronger more experienced ox is placed in a yoke next to a younger less experienced ox. The young then learns his responsibilities from the older through that yoke." I suppose that is exactly what the Lord is doing with us right now. Sister Casey and I are yoked together in this companionship. That doesn't mean that we are to be equally pulling the same weight (although sometimes I wish it were so), the stronger one is expected to pull all she can and the less experienced one is to pull all that she can and it works out. Christ is the yoke that holds us together and strengthens us. 

In a talk called "Teaching after the Manner of the Spirit" by Matthew O. Richardson--he instructs that "the Holy Ghost teaches by invited, prompting, encouraging, and inspiring us to act…He will not, however, do for us what only we can do for ourselves." Elder Richardson goes on to say that the Holy Ghost cannot learn for us. This is the part that stuck out to me the most. If the Holy Ghost cannot learn for us, than surely if I am teaching by the spirit I cannot learn for others, specifically my companion. I can only invite, encourage and lead by example. Which is what I intend to do more fully this transfer. I'm going to need all of the strength I can get. 
I guess the conclusion here is that I'm ok. I'm not sure how things will unfold this transfer but surely if I walk by deepened faith--It will all work out in the Lords way, which is the best way. 

Oh I forgot to share this with you last week. There was a High Council guy that came and spoke in our ward. He talked about us being the salt of the earth like it says in Matthew--related it to adding savor to food and such like the normal way we interpret it, then he likened us to the salt that melts ice in the winter. Said we need to be that ice melt by being active in our communities so we can have the opportunities to not only share our beliefs but share goodness. I thought that was a cool comparison. Also only 2% of the united states has the gospel. So let's get to work!

Love you all!!! Be the Ice Melt! and have a happy monday!

Sister B 

9/22/14 | At the end of the day there's another day over

Good Morning Family! 

This week happened. And I'm glad it's over. But here are some wonderful things that happened (also known as miracles):

So--This one happened a week ago but I forgot to tell you I think??

We were finding in Birdsboro and it was not going well. No one wanted to talk to us, lots of slammed doors and the normal stuff. So, feeling a little defeated- I said a very hard prayer in my heart as we walked down the street to the next potential. "Heavenly Father, PLEASE send us a media referral!!! I promise that we will go and contact them the moment we get it!" That was my simple prayer and we trekked on. We finished out day without much outward success and that night when we were in the apartment planning for the next day and guess what happened--We got a media referral!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so so excited I wanted to go contact them right then!…but then I read where they lived…not in our area, still pleased with the media referral--we sent it over to the first ward elders. Then the next day, we got another media referral!!!!! WHooooo hooooop! so happy again….but then it was for a potential investigator that we already had in our area book (how incidentally doesn't want to talk to us) How unfortunate, but I LEARNED SOMETHING! and that's what counts: When praying--pray with such specificity, that the Lord know's exactly what you stand in need of. So next time I pray for referrals, you can bet my prayer will included me asking for a referral that lives in our area that we have never met before that actually wants to hear a message from us :).

Another miracle: This one is more silly and whatnot but still a miracle indeed! (I may have told you this one already too…) We were going to do Facebook and I needed my handy dandy iPad card reader (i got one to prevent another mishap with virused computers resulting in 100 missing pictures) to upload and edit some pictures for a really nice post. But I couldn't find my card reader! I searched everywhere! I frantically turned our apartment upside-down searching for it! At this point I could have just got my other one for computers and edited it on the mac in the clubhouse but I was so worried that I had lost it forever so I kept searching.--eventually I reluctantly gave up. We went to the club house and I did it on the computers. still saddened about my loss. But on the way back to the apartment, I had an inner dialog that went like this: 

Rational Me: "Will not having your iPad card reader change your life forever?"

Irrational Me: "No…probably not."

Rational Me: "Then surely it will be ok"

Irrational Me turned into Rational Me: "ok" 

I accepted my loss and was happy again. When we got to the apartment, I picked up a paper that was sitting on my desk for an unknown reason, and guess what was sitting pretty underneath it: My iPad card reader!!! Lesson: The Lord didn't let me find it until I had realized that I don't need it. I actually don't need much of the stuff I cart around with me in the mission field--sometimes it's just fun to have trinkets and things that make you happy..as long as you know you don't need them. :)

Miracle 3: Tuesday.

Tuesday was a seemingly very bad day. It was another finding day: when we make a list of potentials (in this case less actives that no one had ever heard about) and go and find them. It was also not very fun and we weren't having a very good time. No one wanted to talk to us. Lot's of them pretended they didn't know who we were (nice try, we didn't just tract into you by accident) We were, again, pretty defeated and just wanted to go home. We had one more on the list. We looked up her record and found that she wasn't nice to missionaries. Apparently the Elders had stopped by last week and she and her husband (super anti) chatted with them on the porch for a little (were pretty cold) and refused to let them pray before they left. What a discouraging report. We decided to try our luck anyways, we had enough time before our dinner appointment that was just up the street, so we knocked on her door. She opened it and smiled at us. "hey. we're the sister missionaries!" I exclaimed as heartily as I could muster. "Well come on in!" She said in reply. Unexpected thing #1. So we sat on her couch (next to apparently evil kitty) and she got us some wooder (that's water incase you didn't know). Sister Casey picked up the evil kitty and it LOVED her. Super puzzled, Catherine (that's the LA's name) called in her sons to witness this miracle! They thought it was amazing that this evil little kitty was sitting calmly allowing my companion to pet him. Ice Broken. We were a bit hesitant to bring up church at all because of the Elders report so we just talked with her for a little bit and got to know her. She was wonderful! She is a prison guard and had been in the shooting rang all day. cool. But then the most wonderful thing happened: She brought up the church! Asked about what ward she was in and we gave her the down low on the brand new ward she is now apart of! how exciting! Then SHE BROUGHT UP THE TEMPLE. The DC one and told us a story about how she and some coworkers were going to DC for some training and saw the temple from the freeway! She was able to tell them all about it! How cool is that when a LA is sharing with you a MISSIONARY EXPERIENCE!? way too cool. From there we told her all about the Philly Temple and showed her pictures of how far along it is. She wants to go see it with her husband (he is into construction and would supposablly love it) We told her about Brother and Sister Carr (the ones who oversee the sight) and their little visitor center--they have pictures drawn up of what the inside will look like (super colonial) and stuff. Then she brought the conversation back to church and asked when our church was, She can come! Even though she works on sundays, she can come because we have the latest church on planet earth! So she is going to come and bring her daughter who subsequently is looking for a church to join. Bam. Miracle. Oh and our day had a mega turn around (ear to ear smiles!) and we went to our dinner appointment and the Palacios! She fed us Fish and rice. yum. a smoothie. yum. fruit dosed in lemon juice (it was actually lime juice but dominicans call both lemons and limes, lemons) and covered in Tajin. <it is this spicy spice stuff that they put on all fruit…good. yum. And spanish cinnamon tea. yum. Bad Tuesday turned into a GoodTuesday just like that :)

The rest of our week was a bit…downhill from there. Sister Casey met with the Mission Psychologist and she diagnosed her with severe depression and anxiety. So we are dealing with that. 

We fed homeless people with the ward in Pottstown on Thursday!! It was really fun! you would love it. Go try it. I KNOW there are homeless people in Salt Lake for sure. 

So that's how the week went. I'm going on exchanges with Sister Pickett tonight and tomorrow. I'm reallllly glad. It will be good. and Sister Casey needs to learn that she CAN do things with out me. Cause she can, she just won't at this point. We read "Like a Broken Vessel" This morning in Comp study and it worked like magic! She was having a bad bad morning. Being rather mean and refused to role play with me. So we read that talk, she cried, and has been happier so far today. Thanks Elder Holland!!!!!!! So today is looking up already. 

Have a Joyful one yourselves! Love you to next October and back. 

Sister Bailey. 

9/15/14 | We had a good week shout hooray

Hoorayy!!!

We got fed 5 times this week!!! But that's the only number record we broke this week. Unless you count the record breaking temps that are currently happening. People are confused because september is still summer here in PA.  I'm calling it green fall. Because it is still very green but also very cold. let me illustrate how cold it is: I'm wearing long sleeves, a wool skirt and boots. We are probably going to turn on the heater tonight also. But I refuse to unpack my winter stuff until transfer calls next week (I would really hate to have to pack it all up again that quickly). 

Other good things:

1: We ate at TEXAS ROADHOUSE! Sister Casey had a gift card. Let me tell you how weird it felt to be there…I was positive I would walk out the door and it would be Utah outside! haha it was a weird feeling. 

2: Sister Casey chopped off her hair. She just wants to be like me :) And contrary to common belief--I did not convince her to do it! It was her idea, I merely told her it was a good idea. :)

3: We had a sleepover in Bath, PA. We went and stayed with the Nazereth sisters (Baugh and Lindly--thats the one the Daytons know!) so we wouldn't have to wake up at 4 to get to Mission conference on time. There apartment has an attic with red velvet carpet. #fun

4: I met a general authority! Elder Wilford Anderson of the Seventy came to visit us! He is very nice and so is his wife. He spoke about so many wonderful things!!!! While he was talking I felt so much at peace. I felt still. While the calmness came over me the thought entered my mind, "this is what it will feel like to be in the presence of your savior." It was so wonderful. Something he shared with us that stood out to me was "A lack of energy is a lack of faith!" that's true! Even though missionary's are (and pretty much expected to be) tired always, we can have an incredible driving force of energy when we have faith and the spirit! He told us a story about President Hinckley. They (Elder Nelson (I think it was elder nelson), President Hinckley and their wives) were all in Colorado speaking at a conference and when Elder Nelson and his wife got on the plane, exhausted they cozied up in their seats and rested. Soon after President and Sister Hinckley boarded the plan and took their seats behind the Nelsons. After the plane took off and reached a high altitude, They hear a rummaging noise--the Nelsons turn around to see what the ruckus is all about and what do they see?: President Hinckley on a treadmill. "Aren't you exhausted? Don't you want to rest?" They inquired. He said he was very tired but that he has found that if he just get's a little bit extra oxygen to his brain--he is energized! So when you are tired, go for a jog and think about President Hinckley on a treadmill on an airplane :). 

The work is going good here in Reading. We did a lot of finding this week without much number success. But that's ok because we were working hard and contacting people--the only problem was that none of them really wanted to listen to us. We did find a family though!!!!! and we have a return appointment with them next week! I am really excited to teach a family! 
 

I have been giving more of my study time to the book of mormon this week. I am beginning to feel as Sister Anderson said in our mission conference--I never want to put it down! I am completely engulfed by the story and teachings in that book. I want to read it over and over and find all of the treasures the Lord will point out to me as I seek them. I'm reading in Mormon right now, as I read about the self destruction of the Nephites--I can see a parallel into our world, it has hit me hard that if we as a whole to not become repentant, the world will spiral into chaos. Which gives me motivation and conviction in preaching repentance! We must be prepared to harken to the Lords voice when He comes. 

That's how this week went. We've been doing a lot of role plays around here and Sister Casey hates it but it is good for both of us ;). I hope you all have  really good week! Love you! Conference  is coming! It's practically here!!!!!! oh we had dinner with the Bright's last night, Sister Brights parents live in Highland. cooooool! 

love you byeeee

Sister Bailey 

Also I'm really excited for conference! yay! 

 PS. Did you know that 75% of the Book of Mormon was translated in my Mission?! coooollll

Have a happy day!

9/8/14 | {over} 300 days of Mission

What a time it has been! I tell people out here this all the time but I don't know if I've shared it with you: THIS IS LITERALLY THE FUNNEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE! seriously. being a missionary is pure fun. 

Ok this week was fairly quiet. Sister Casey caught a stomach bug for a day, then I caught it for a day--leaving us both rather exhausted for a day, but the work goes on!

Monday (was not p day) and we helped the Anderson family move! Missionaries get really good at packing and such (because we get 100 opportunities to do it). That was good. I don't really remember anything else about that day.

Tuesday (was p day) we played in Wyomissing, it's right next to Reading--did you know that Taylor Swift is from there!? crazzyy. I treated myself with a chicken curry hand pie, cucumber juice and a macaroon for my mission birthday :) yayyyy hb to meeeee. 

Wednesday (sister casey sick ) 

Thursday ( zone training ) We learned all about goal setting and planning. It was very good. I even played a musical number on the piano :). oh….I almost forgot about the beginning of that day…so we were running late that morning and we got to the meeting just a few min before it started. We went and shook the Zone Leaders hands and took our spot on the front row (#onlyspotleft). I was pulling out my scriptures to study and Sister Casey comes and sits by me with a face of mega distress, "I don't have my tag" she says just under a whisper. Oh! Want mine?? then she looked like she might cry so I told her to follow me. When we got to the hall I told her it was really ok, every missionary forgets their tag more than once, and what better time to forget it than when you are only going to be around missionaries that day! Then she started crying….uhhhhhh I don't really know what to do when people cry. I tried to comfort her, I even hugged her :) (bonus points). we went to the bathroom so she could blow her nose. Turns out she was just really, I mean really, embarrassed about it. so sad. I tried to give her my tag again but she wouldn't take it. Sister Pickett and sister pike came looking for us right when we were about to go back in. (that took some mega coaxing) Sister Pickett quicky clipped her tag onto sister casey and covered her missing tag space with her long hair. I love that Pickett. We went in and all was well. Then after the meeting came weekly planning, we made it maybe an hour before my little compa lost it again. I don't really remember what she was crying about this time. We talked about it and addressed some of her concerns. She is having a hard time being her self and being a missionary. I told her that one of the best things she can do for herself while on a mission is learning how to become her self in a new way. It's about changing your nature rather than your behavior. How easy would it be to revert back to old you when you go home if you are merely changing how you act rather than who you are? way too easy. So I helped her set some goals and make some plans for how she can become the missionary that she wants to be while being herself. We made some more talking goals, including volume. Oh and I came up with this genius idea! So she claims that the reason she talks so quietly is because she breathes wrong, too shallowly or something, so to fix it, I challenged her to sing with me in the car! I think that will help her breathe right…or if it doesn't it fixes the awkward part where I'm sining a solo all. the. time :). She was having a sad time still so for our dinner break I brought her to see the sun set at the pagoda (Sister Missionary Stress 101: take a break to watch the sun set. It will melt your stress away and make your companion happier too.) That's how our Thursday went.

Friday ( i was sick )

Saturday: We helped Sister Hernandez (LA) move. it started pouring harrrrrrrdddddddd mid move so we put a pause on it tillnext saturday. We had a dinner appointment! whooooo! It was with the Harrisons. They have the funniest little girl, her name is Libby and she insists on calling us "Ladies" instead of sisters. :) Then we went to ward soccer which turned into ward ultimate frisbee (due to the lack of soccer ball and the sudden appearance of a frisbee) I got a crayyyzyy bruise on my hand, right on the squishy part under my pointer finger. cool. 

Sunday. so good. We learned about Hosea in sunday school. Lots of metaphors and stuff. Sometimes I wonder if our teacher thinks the old testament is real of if it is just a nice fiction like the catholics believe. hmmmmm. After church we went and had waffles at Rose's (mom can you send me the pumpkin waffle and buttermilk syrup recipes? Rose want's to try them :)) Then we went and found a LA! She was nice but told us to come back on tuesday. We went and taught Sister Lorah in the nursing home by our house. Before we went in I turned to sister casey and said, "I'm going to try something in this lesson called I'm not going to talk." Fear dashed across her face and she said no thanks. she started her whole shpeel about how good a teacher I am and that she can learn so much about teaching by listening to me teach. Well we've had 3 solid weeks of that so let's put it to practice now :). She was worried she would mess up and I assured her that it would be fine! Sister Lorah probably wouldn't notice anyways. So we went in there and she greeted her, shared a mormon message, testified, prayed and off we went. Short, simple, she did it! and now that I know she can do it, she IS going to do it in every lesson. I will teach with her obviously too :). Sad part: she didn't think she did a good job so I reassured her it was great! it really was too. 

I love sister casey. She is sweet and I know she can become the missionary that she wants to be. As long as the desire is there, and she sets goals and does everything in her power to reach them, she can do it because the Lord will help her! I think ANYONE that goes on a mission can do that. It's reaaaaaalll hard but like Elder Holland said, "salvation isn't cheep." and I think it will be wayyyyyy better to be in the celestial kingdom rather than the terrestrial kingdom don't you?. 

Oh also, sister casey and I went and taught some of the priest quorum lesson on sunday (why we were invited and the elders weren't I know not). It went really well, we were (obviously) talking about missionary work. I asked them if they were planning on going on missions, They all resounded a solid YES! Then I asked them if they thought it would be easier to be a missionary if they started sharing the gospel now. They sat there and thought for a second, then one said that it would probably be easier if they started now. RIGHT ANSWER. We expressed to them that just because you put on a tag doesn't always mean its magically easy to talk to people. Yes you are set apart and have lots of extra help from the spirit but satan is also working even harder at you, making you think things like how awkward it would be to randomly talk to strangers or thoughts of fear when in a lesson…he makes you think things that stop you from sharing the gospel or acting on promptings. No bueno. Moral of the story, be a missionary now so you will be a better missionary when you get that shiny black tag. Oh we could also compare it to the 4 min talk from last conference--change it to your mission being your 4 min and now is the time to prepare so you can be like Ammon your entire mission instead of just the last 6 months or so :) 

Ok byeeeeee!!! have a good week! Fall is coming! I can feel it in the air! (also everyone should check out the moon tonight!!!!! it's the last of the super moons! and its the biggest and brightest one! (incase you didn't know there were 3 this summer and this is the last :)) 

LOVE YOU!!! 

Sister B 

I took the bold cafe pic for a Facebook post…then I realized that it says coffee right next to my face…(do you think you could take that out jenna??)

Sister Handy, me, Sister Cox, and Elder Issertell on our mission birthday! :) 

the p a g o d a 

9/2/14 | Hello Darlings

Hello Darlings,

This week was a good one. It started with a wonderful picnic in
kutstown with Emily Gottfredson! Crayyyyzayyy and Sister Pickett was
there too. How happy is it that we are serving in the same place?! We
went on exchanges Wednesday! We stopped by to teach a less active
and her non member sister was there! Her name is Carmen and she has
purple hair, purple shoes, purple nails and wears a purple dress...I
guess purple is her thing. Anyways, Carmen is moving to Reading and
wants to learn about the church, Well perfect! Why don't we just teach
you right now?! So Pickett pants and I smushed onto a mini bench (the
only seat left on the porch) and whipped out the Restoration! Bam! I
love teaching with past companions, its a breeze. It all went well
except for the part where there was a nail poking me in the bum the
whole time and it was literally the hottest day of the year and we
were sweating up a storm But the spirit was there so it was allllll
goooood! Carmens daughter listened in on the lesson and so did our
Less actives (linda) mom! Who is also less active and pretends she
only speaks spanish whenever we come around. Carmen isn't moving here
till October 1st but we are going to try and get in contact with the
missionaries in NYC so they can start teaching her! yay!  After that,
we went to help one of sister picketts investigators move....they
needed extra help so the elders were there and so was sister pike and
my compa. Me and PIckett were the only ones without service
clothes...grubby. Oh and She was a hoarder...We called this adventure
"The Cat Pee Move" because of course she also hoards cats...lovely. So
we were packing up things...seriously the most random things i've ever
seen in my life and we found a room with the door shut tight...we
crack the door open and guess what we found...A ROOM FULL OF
CATS!!!!!! Whatttttt. So that was grubby and we ignored it :) We moved
and moved and moved some more then finally got to go home and shower.
Oh we also had interviews with President Anderson Wednesday morning!
It was so wonderful, he gave me some really good council on how I can
help my compa this transfer. He also had us write our our personal
purpose and bring it with us to the interview. He really liked mine so
that's good.
Then we ran out of miles for the month...so we tried to walk
everywhere, literally. We walked for like 100 miles, it was cray. and
hot but good.
Ummmmm lets see what else happened this week....someone made us
tamales. yum. we got a media referral from a woman that the elders
have dropped about 15 times already so I'm not sure what we are going
to do about that. oh IT'S SEPTEMBER! What. That's nuts, i've been a
missionary for a whole year! (on Thursday) That is so crazy weird.
I've learned so much and grown so much since having this opportunity
to serve The Lord! I love the gospel, it makes so much sense to me and
I can't wait to have epic scripture gospel study mission prep with
boss and pika when I get home (it will be like mini early morning
seminary!! FUN!) we'll call it E.S.G.S.M.P. for short :). Oh boy I got
THE BEST surprise in the mail :) I am using it currently as I borrow
the wifi at panera :) (happy mission birthday to meeeeeeeee) And mom I
LOVE those cards! tooo cute! Ok I have found the most scrumptious
breakfast! You get the oatmeal that Mom sent me, follow the directions
on the packet. when you take it out of the microwave, pour what you
feel would be just a little too much milk in and stir it up. get the
cinnamon paleokrunch and sprinkle heavily on top. drizzle the tiniest
bit of agave. stir, enjoy, goes very lovely with magic mint herbal
tea. YUM! Ok that's all for this week. I'll send picture in a sec.
Love you!!!!!


Sister Bailey Loves YOU!

Grubby picture of me and Sister Pickett during the Cat Pee move. Duck
dynasty dolls....They talk.

I embroidered this one for Sister Manson