3/22/15 | Sister Bailey's Homecoming Talk

Thank you for your talks. I especially liked what Eli said about Jesus Christ being our example. I had a little bit of time to do a tiny bit of studying this morning and I came across a scripture in 2 Nephi 31 and it says, it's talking about Jesus Christ,  it says "Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments."
One of my favorite ways that Christ teaches us is simply through showing us what to do. He has truly shown us how to be obedient. So thank you for your talks (looking over at speakers on the stand)

It's really good to be here today! It's really good to see all of your faces. It's really good to have taken the sacrament with all of you today. I feel like I'm speaking in stake conference right now 'cause there's so many people. But this will be good.

There are two people that I want to talk about today from my mission. The first one, his name is Kollie Flomo. Kollie was from Liberia, Africa, and he lived a very hard life. He struggled to stay alive because of the civil war that was in their country. He saw a lot of things that many of us will probably never see. He told us stories of when he was younger. He would stay up all night and pray that they would make it through the night, that the rebels wouldn't come and kill him and his family. So as he grew older he had the opportunity to come to America as a refugee. He ended up in a little place called West Chester, Pennsylvania. He got there a couple months after I did and became aquainted with a member of our ward. He came to church one day and he found me and my companion and he introduced himself and he said "Hi! I would like to be fellowshipped into your church."  And we looked at eachother and we're like, "Ok great! We can help you with that!" So we started meeting with him, we taught him about once every week and he was truly amazing. He had already sacrificed literally everything in his life. He left Liberia knowing that he would probably never see or talk to his family ever again. He lived in a very small apartment and really had nothing. So as we taught him the gospel it was easy for him to be obedient to God's commandments because he had already humbled himself like it said in this scripture. As Kollie was obedient he was able to progress in the gospel. As he kept commandments, his testimony grew and he was able to help others around him. Kollie is now preparing to go to the temple, it's been over a year now so he's ready to go to the temple any day now and I know that he is helping people. His testimony is so strong and he shares it with everyone he meets.

That is just one example of how obedience can truly work in peoples lives.
Obedience is something that is on every missionaries mind. There are so many different things that we are expected to be obedient to and it's through the little things that we are blessed. I was able to see that as a missionary. Even as the little things like being sure that you are in bed by 10:30. It made it that much easier to get up in the morning. I know that sounds silly but I know that every returned missionary knows what I'm talking about.
In our lives as not missionaries it is still very very important to be obedient to the things that God gives us to do. There is a mormon message by Elder Holland, it's called "Good Things To Come" and he tells a story about him and his family trying to drive across the country and they ran in to some car troubles. But in the end he says something that stands out very much to me. He says, "Some blessings come soon, some blessings come late, and some blessings don't come until heaven. But to the righteous (and I'll add to the Obedient), they always come." I know that to be true. That promise is from an apostle of the Lord. I know that as we're obedient blessing always come.

The second person that I want to talk about today, her name is Sister Casey. She was one of my companions. She has a very very special place in my heart. I love her a lot. We didn't have a good companionship. It was very very hard. She was going through a lot of very hard things. She struggled with some depression. I did all that I could to help her, but one day she came to me one night after we had planned and she was crying a little bit and she said, "Sister Bailey I don't think that I know how to use the Atonement." She said, "I get the part where we can be cleansed from our sins and we can repent but I don't understand the enabling part of the Atonement and how we can use it." As she told me this I smiled a little bit because I knew that this was exactly what she needed and I was very grateful for the trials and the things that I'd been through on my mission so far that made it able for me to help her understand this power of the Atonement. We sat there that night and I taught her about the Atonement. It was a very very powerful experience. I committed her to pray that night and to ask for the help of the Atonement. I told her that it wouldn't come the next day, she wouldn't just be up and ready to go and be perfect the next day and that everything would be easy. But I told her that if she prayed constantly for that help and did everything she could, that help would come because she qualified for that help. A couple weeks went by and I asked her how things were going and she held her head down and she said it wasn't going so well. She hadn't felt that help from our Savior yet. I told her not to give up and to keep praying and that that help would come. So a couple weeks later from that she came to me and told me that she had felt that power just a little bit. I got transferred away from her a little bit after that and I worried about her because she was still struggling when I left her. But I was blessed to be able to see her just a few weeks ago at a mission conference and I wish I could show you how different she is. Her countenance shown brightly. The spirit just glowed from her face and I know it's because of the Atonement. She was able to rely on her Savior and to trust in him and I know that she is a powerful missionary now.

I am so grateful for Kollie and Sister Casey and the things that they've taught me. There are many many other people on my mission that have taught me similar things and more things. On my mission  it wasn't very easy. I don't think missions are supposed to be easy but every missionary experiences different trials. I think they're hand-picked trials 'cause the Lord knows exactly what we need. There is another mormon message by Elder Christofferson and it's called "The Will of the Lord". He tells a story that Elder Hugh B. Brown told in a conference and it's about a little currant bush. This currant bush had grown completely out of control. It's this massive tree and the farmer comes and he cuts it down. He knows he wants it to be a currant bush because thats what it's supposed to be. As he trims this currant bush down he sees what he thinks to be a little tear drop on the end of each of the branches and he imagines the little bush crying and saying, "Why would you do this to me? Why would you cut me down? I was making so much beautiful progress." But the farmer responds and he says, "I know what I want you to become. I don't want you to be a big tree I want you to produce fruit. I want you to be a good currant bush." And that's exactly what the Lord does for us. At the end of that message he expresses to the Lord "Thank you for loving me enough to hurt me. For Loving me enough to cut me down so that I can be what you want me to be." That's what happens to every missionary that goes on a mission. I am grateful that I can now say to the Lord, "Thank you for loving me enough to hurt me. For putting me in unideal circumstances to help my testimony grow."

I know that this gospel is so true. I know that no unhallowed hand can stop this work from progressing. The Lord qualifies who he calls and that if we're trying our best, no matter what our best is, the Lord will always provide a way for his work to be done. There is joy that comes through living the gospel but there is more joy that comes through sharing the gospel. I am so grateful that I have been able to experience that joy. There is joy in striving to do our best and that's all the Lord asks of us, is to strive to be obedient, strive to be kind. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he truly saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees. I know that Presidend Monson is the prophet that has been called to lead our church today and I am so grateful for his love and counsel. I hope that every single one of you can feel the love of the prophet. Especially as we prepare to listen to him speak at General Conference coming up. I want you all to pay attention to how you feel when President Monson speaks to us. I'm very grateful for every single one of you. It is so great to feel your love today. I'm thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that his Atonement is real. His Atonement covers everything and it's only through him that we can make it home to our Heavenly Father. I love him. I love my Heavenly Father.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

3/17/15 | Welcome Home Sister Bailey!

3/9/15 | Go Big, Then Go Home

Hello People, 

I'm so glad I can call yous my people :) Also all the people out here are mine too. We sang each life that touches ours for good yesterday in sacrament meeting and I had an overwhelming feeling for how much love I have for the people here. I just love them so much I don't even know how to tell you about it! I hope yous get to meet some of them someday. soon. anyways, want to hear how my week went??

Tuesday: I lost my ipad. well, I didn't loose it but they took it away from me. very sad. I didn't realize how much I used it in my personal studies until I didn't have anymore. So I've been plotting on how I will hijack Baby Boss's iPad when I get home because I'm sure he doesn't even need it anymore. Thanks boss ;). That is what we did for all of Zone Training, watched the little missionaries set up their brand new iPads. Lame, luckily there are 4 of us leaving in our zone so we sat in the back and talked doctrine....mostly :). 

We taught Damien a lesson at Elaina's about family history and it went pretty good. Except for he didn't get any information on his family like we committed him to so the lesson was rather short. Then Elaina insisted that we stay for lunch! She ordered sushi :) mmmmm favorite. A major storm came in so we had to head home early. lame. 

Wednesday: BEST day ever. WE had interviews with our dear President and his wife. so so good. President told me some really wonderful things and also some really really hilarious things that I will share with you later. Oh man, brace yourselves for that conversation. He talked about staying close to the sacrament table and all will be well. good good stuff. Sister Anderson and I had a really great visit too. She also told me some interesting things that I will share with you later too (isn't it great that when I tell you stuff like this then say I will tell you later...later is actually really soon so you won't die before I tell you!?! pretty neat ;)) 

After interviews, we went on exchanges with the Morrisville Sisters. Well first we got some cheesesteaks at Wit or Witout. YUM. erry exchange needs a cheesesteak in it. Sister Handy and I got to spend the day in Morrisville!! it was so fun! I got to see some LA's and members that I used to work with when I served there (which was exactly a year ago! can you even believe that?!) We also saw some really cool miracles. First was that we actually caught one of their RC's home! and she was nice! (apparently she is bipolar and get's cray sometimes) After that we were driving down the street and I felt like we should stop at this house...I thought about it and we drove past while I was mulling over my memories to try and see if I had knocked that door before...dang I though...too late but then sister handy flipped a U and I was like ok spirit it must be important. so we stopped at the house. We knocked on the door and a Russian man answered (I know you are probably thinking, WHAT? a Russian in Morrisville!? and that's what I thought too till I remembered that I'm a Russian magnet). His name was Ivan but he was just working on the house (painting or something) and said that he was busy. Dang. Sister Handy had the good idea to put a pass a long card on his car with our number so we opened the trunk and guess what was in the very top of their commissary box...A RUSSIAN BOOK OF MORMON! no way. I gasped and said, do you know what that is?! she's like, uh no. That's a Russian book of Mormon!!!! So she wrapped it in a plastic bag with the card (it was raining) and put it on his car. all the while he was watching us through the window :). yay. I'm sure we will hear the end of that miracle on the other side of that vail. :). cool stuffy stuff. 

We got to eat dinner at the HEAPS! ah do you remember the heaps?! they are my favorite people in all the land and their daughter just got home from her mission so it was real fun to talk to her. Then we switched back from our exchange early because of the storm that was coming in. 

Thursday: Snow day. seriously I've had enough snow days on my mission to last me at least 3 lifetimes. goodness! We weekly planned and then sister cost had a mental breakdown. She wouldn't talk to me so I told her that she either needed to talk to me or go talk to Heavenly Father. So she packed up her iPad and disappeared into our bedroom for a few hours. Meanwhile I had to dig the car out of the snow so the landlord could snow blow the driveway. fun fun fun. 

Friday we had a great day! We were out the door at 10:04! I know that is technically late but everything is a battle with my sis so I'm counting it as a victory. A major one. We attempted to contact 3 of our MR's without success but guess what....one of them lives on CAMEL AVE. stop it right?! I love camels so this is deffinantly Gods way of telling me he loves me. a lot. especially considering that the house on that street wasn't really there. so I took some pics at the camel street sign and we went to teach sister baran a lesson. it went well. she's cray but we love her. Then we went to teach sister Frisby. I love that lady. she is doing well too. We had dinner at the Vega's, a wonderful Puerto Rican family, then went to sister macdonalds for a lesson. She has such a special place in my heart. 

Saturday we had a ward sprig cleaning activity. so many people came it was so good!!! After we cleaned the church sister Mirochnik and Vilma (the one we live with) took us to Panera for lunch. Sister Mirochnik's son Cameron came too. he is struggling so we tried to talk with him a bit, he's 13 but in with the wrong crowd at school. it's sad. Don't ever do that pika and boss! WE had dinner at the Maurer's that night and boy do they throw a good party :). So fun. and I found out the best news called they are moving to Utah! Best birthday present ever. I can't wait for you to meet them. they are real Philadelphians :). 

Sunday was crazy. Only 4 people showed up for PEC so basically it didn't happen. BIshop was in the hall the whole time taking care of a crisis. Church was wonderful though! Good lessons and everything :). We went to the Menezes after church to teach Tyreese and have lunch. Tyreese is doing ok. We taught him the Word of Wisdom. The lesson was real good but he wasn't very responsive. Probably because he is moving back his baptismal date but doesn't want to tell us which is funny because we already know because Sister menezes told us but told us not to say anything because she is making Tyreese tell us. ha. lovely. Anyways, he's waiting for his GF to come home for the summer to be baptized. which is a bad idea but he has his agency. I really hope it all works out. The Christensens had us over for another Birthday extravaganza that night :) The Johnson's came too. What wonderful people there are out here! You all need to come and meet them, you will love them too I'm sure of it! :) 

So that is how our week went. very good. We have some good plans for this coming week but I suppose I will just tell you how they go when I see you. weird and good. 

Guys, I'm so glad that I am a missionary. it is hands down the best thing in thing in the whole world. I have loved my time here so much that I want it to go on forever but it can't. and that's ok because I am starting to feel at peace with coming home. I know that I have served fully and done my best. I am so so so grateful for that prompting I received just about 2.5 years ago that got me here. I love you all so much. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers over the past year and a half. Angels have truly been sent to bare me up.  Have a good week. Finish reading that blue book before I see you (the ones that finished get the first hugs :)) 

See you in Green. 

Signing out: With all the Love in PA + Heaven.

Sister Alyssa Bailey 

PS this gospel is very very much true incase that wasn't clear 

3/2/15 | Hello!

Hello!

Gah, can you even believe that it is March?! That seems fake to me but
I'll take it. Wow, what a crazyyy week we've had here in Pennypack. I
think I already told you about last monday....so we'll start with
Tuesday.
Ah man, we had the best time! We took the subway into Center City.
When we got on, these creepy dudes came over and started talking to
us. Pretty sure they were high. Anyways, I'm all for ignoring them but
Sister Cost was not! She is the greatest. One of them wasn't that bad,
he told us that he had met with the missionaries before and wanted his
son to meet with them again. Then his creepy friend came over and I
was like, ok don't talk to that one Cost. But she did talk to him.
Luckily they got off a couple stops later. We turned to this mad who
had over heard our conversation and started talking with him. He was
great! From Georgia and had heard of the church before. We had a great
conversation with him but then had to get off at our stop before we
could give him our info. But wait: The Lord truly blesses you with
elect people when you are doing your best to find them. If you don't
find them, He will send them to you. We got off the subway and a man
stopped us on our way up the stairs. He asked about our church and we
were going to give him the Center City sisters info...but we got
talking and he is from North East Philly!!!! NOWAYYY That's where we
live toooo!!!!! So we gave him the pennypack church info and he really
wants to come to church. He is from Liberia. I'll keep you updated on
him.
From there we made our way to the Masonic Temple....very strange. It
was cool though. oh want to see the coolest part!?

why yes, that is a 4th edition of the Book of Mormon I am holding in
my hands. Ah I can't believe they let me touch it!! In my mind I was
all like "gah don't let anybody touch that without gloves on!!" but on
the outside i was like "oh yeah I would love to hold that and touch
every page."
After the 3 hour tour (just kidding it was only an hour) we went over
to Reading Terminal Market with Thayna! (Thayna Menezes from our ward
met us down there after school) I got my favorite juice (carrot,
cucumber, banannaaaa!) and they got pizza. Thayna really wanted to try
macaroons so we asked around and a lady sent us to China Town. Yeahh
buddy. To a bubble tea shop. YUM. We got her macaroons and explored a
bit. I got a red bean roll (valeria! like the one we got in cali! YUM)
and then headed back to the station. We had dinner at the bishops
house that night. He never lets us help clean up after dinner but we
sneaky did it anyways :). IT was great!

Wednesday was another adventure! Sister Cost wanted/needed a blessing
so we went to Frankford and met with the Elders. They ended up talking
with us for a while and came up with a wonderful idea on how I can get
Sister Cost out of bed in the morning! Every night, I put a spray
bottle of water in the fridge, Then in the morning, I will spray her
awake :) But also I would call the elders so they could stop her from
killing me just in case :).(The plan worked!!! I havent' have to spray
her yet but just the idea get's her out of bed before me!) They gave
her a blessing and we headed to Broomall. Elder Jones met with her one
last time before they left :( ah I'm seriously crying over that. It
was really good. Elder Jones is a miracle worker. Oh :) here is me and
them. I just LOVE tthem!
love love love. They sent us on our marry way...to PANERA! (I finally
finished that gift card...thank you 100 that is literally my favorite
favorite place in all america) Had a quick dinner and then headed into
the city. We met up with Damien and Brother Whitten at the Temple
site! Brother and Sister Carr stayed late so we could come to the
visiter center :). Oh it was so good! Damien is such a dream RC! He
loved everything about the temple! here is another miracle. We were
running right on time, which means that we would be late due to trying
to find a un metered parking spot because I forgot to bring
quarters...So we give up and find a super close parking spot that will
take dollars. We park, get out to pay, and the machine wont take out
money. ugh. So we walked over to the temple to ask brother car and
guess what! FREE PARKING ON WEDNESDAY NIGHTS!??!!? What the random
tender mercy eh?

Thursday was the worst day. So bad that I don't want to talk about it.
Just know that Sister Cost had a really bad day and I set up an
exchange with Sister manson and Sister Jolley for next week. Also with
the Morrisville sisters this week. :) I do what I can.

Friday was better. I decided that Sister Cost and I had to hug after
every prayer we said. That's a lot of hugs. and I don't like hugs. but
I knew that it would help sister cost stop it with the anger fits. It
worked.

Saturday was good. We have been working on backing up all of our iPad
stuff. Like all the stuff we have saved on LDStools app. ugh it is
taking forever but it has been good. We kinda felt sick all day. I
took a nap on lunch break instead of eatting. We had a dinner
appointment with a Haitian family. They are so sweet!!! and it was soo
good but itt took all of my power to not throw up all over....sister
cost was feeling the same way
:( We ended up coming home after and going to bed at 6pm.

Sunday we thought we would wake up feeling better. Wrong. We barely
got ourselves to church. I am really grateful we did and that I
remembered to start my fast before I went to bed the night before.
Fast and Testimony meeting was just wonderful. I was fasting for a few
things, but mostly for peace. Guess what the "theme" of the meeting
turned out to be??? Peace + Obedience + the Atonement. incredible.
Sister Stokes talked about us in her testimony. About how much of an
answer to her prayers we were last week when we came over. I got a
very strong confirmation that Sister cost is going to be OK. That is
good. We had meetings until 3. We were feeling a little bit better.
functional at the very least. We had dinner at the L'heureux's! They
are friends with the guy working on our house! They are wonderful
people and I loved every second at their house. They fed us the
yummmiest food!!!! DAD, do you remember that one time when we were in
the grocery store and I really wanted to get brussle sprouts??? You
sad no but I really wanted them. You were in the process of telling me
how nasty they were when out of the blue this old man comes up and
tells me how nasty they truly were. I was mostly freaked out and
dropped it. Anywayyysss They fed us the yummmiest brussle sprouts on
the planett!!!!!!! ah man, new favorite food. ;) It was ice raining so
we headed home from dinner. Also we weren't feeling well again. I
tired to be productive and Sister cost went to sleep.

We've had a good day so far. Weather has been pretty ok this week. I'm
used to the nasty cold and cant seem to remember what it feels like to
be warm so it's ok! As you may know, my birthday is coming....IT'S
PRACTICALLY HERE!...that's all :). I hope you have a smashing week. I
know I will. We've got some stellar plans and appointments set up. We
have zone training tomorrow....which means I won't have an iPad for
the rest of my mission. It will be strange but I already bedazzled one
of those old paper planners to use (yes I still have a stash). We will
be off facebook too. (not even sad) We have interviews this week too.
I"M super excited! and exchange with Morrisville! Sister Handy and I
will be in morrisville!!! I'm so excited. We are having dinner with
the Heaps if you remember me talking about them at all...their
daughter just got home from her mission and i'm super stoked to meet
her! Anyways, That's about all I've got to say.

Except maybe one more thing: I've been praying alot lately. and
Heavenly Father helped me come to a conclusion. I was telling him how
it would just be so much easier to make it home safely to him one day
if I could just stay here and be a missionary forever. But I was
reminded that life isn't easy. And that there are good things to come!
There are lots of good things coming my way that I wouldn't get if I
stayed here. So home I must come! Don't worry, I am excited to see all
of yous ;)
bbyeeee.

LO
VE<3

Sister Bailey!

Sister Cost, Damien, Brother Whitten and ME at the temple site trailer.

2/24/15 | Rita's opens this week :) :) :) :)

Well Hello there!!! 

What a week we have haddddddd! Goodness me, where to start...

Tuesday was goooooood :), Sister Cost did all the breaking excersizes and stuffy stuff Elder Jones told her to do and the Mebius's gave us a 'nature light' for winter blues stuff, so I turned that on for excersizes and studies..also I gave sister cost 10,000 iu of Vitamin D (Sister Mebius said that was a good high amount :)) AND IT WORKED! We had a blissful day!!! It snowed 100 (ok just 5) inches but it was warm out. We shoveled the driveway in a jiffy and had the funnest time with it. Sister Cost secretly LOVES service. Dana had us over for lunch and we ended up checking our facebook while we were there. Good thing we did because we saw that the RSP had a pipe break in her garage (service opp #2!!!) We ran to the rescue and it turns out that mostly she just needed someone to talk to about her stress...and also vacuum her house. Check and check! She is a wonderful lady. It would be very hard to be the RSP of this ward! We went to the Christensen's for dinner (favorite humans) and THE funniest thing happened. We had finished eating and were talking for a min when all of the sudden, out of the corner of my eye I see something..."UMMMM, There is a creature in your laundry room.....!" Guess what it was......The cutest, tiniest, baby MOLE! oh it was so cute but unfortunately it scurried away and we didn't catch it. Oh well. ;) 

Wednesday we went on exchanges!!! mmmmmmm I love sister Manson (Spencer, why wont you write her baaaack!?) We had the greatest time together. We ran into a woman named Dawn. She actually didn't want to hear anything that we had to say because "we believe in a different Jesus than her" So we sang her a song and she said she felt bad for us that we didn't have the truth. (uhhhh right back at cha sista) We ended up teaching her about what we actually believe and she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. Lovely. That night we taught Damien (THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE PENNYPACK WARD! holla) at the Samaniego's. It went wonderfully. We are taking him to see the Philly temple site tomorrow. Then we went to Elaina's to check on her...and also ended up cleaning her house. (100 service a dayyy!) We also ate an icicle while tracting :). 

Thursday morning we went to the church early because sister manson wanted me to play the piano for her. She wrote me a note later and told me that it was one of the most sacred spiritual experiences on her mission. Music is magic, people. That night we were going into a dinner/lesson with the Stokes family. We were finalizing our lesson plan and we actually had 2 lesson plans we couldn't decide on. We prayed and discussed it. then prayed again and talked some more. Then I just felt prompted that this would be a really good learning experience. So I told sister cost that we would go into the appointment and that I had super faith that she would be prompted by the spirit to know which lesson to go with and I would follow her lead. Bingo. it worked. We taught about forgiveness and testified to them that their efforts are enough and they are doing their best. Mid lesson, Sister stokes said that that was exactly what she needed to hear. She cried and I know the spirit touched their whole family. It was good. 

Saturday:  Snow day. Lame. 

But president gave us permission to use Facebook from our apartments for the day so we would still be able to be productive. It was so good! I was able to teach a lesson to Alex Cost, Sister cost's sister ;). Oh it was good! She needs the gospel so much. other than that we discovered that we have a SPARE BATHROOM in our apt. What the heck is that all about. Strange. also i'm not sure why it took us so long to discover that. Also We hate the nasty Philly water taste (erryone does) So we usually buy water. But we ran out so I just bucked up and have been drinking it....not sister cost though. She was so thrilled that is snowed because she could just eat that instead of drink water. GROSS. But that's what she did alllll dayyyyy. she's still alive though so it must not be poison. 

Damien got confirmed on Sunday! yayyy! I met the coolest visiting people too, the Murphy's. They are from Seattle WA and came out to pick up a BABY!!!! they are adopting a little boy from Trenton NJ. They were cool. WE had a linger longer after churcch (oh by the way NO ONE came to church because of the snow. people out here bbe cray) We taught Tyreese at the menezes and had a very good Sunday. 

MONDAY!

ok so you want to know why we didn't have P day yesterday????? Elder Evans and Elder Allen of the 70 came to roll out the newest phase of missionary work. Yeahhhh buddy, cool stuff is happening and we were the first mission to hear about it ;). Get this: We are doing a "reset" on social media/digital devices. Starting fresh. This past year has been a test run (30 missions trying it all out) and now they are implementing what we learned. We are getting new iPads next week. But we are taking it all very slow. There are three phases. 

1: getting a Mobile device + learning how to use gospel library more effectively

2: focusing on how to be more effective with the area book planner app

3: re-introducing social media

This will all take place as slow or fast as the mission president says. It all depends on how quickly the missionaries involved complete tasks and stuff.

As for me....It just means that I get a new iPad for a couple weeks. and a facebook detox. 

Elder Evans and Elder Allen taught us a lot of really cool things. The only filter that will truly work is the one you personally develop and place on your mind and heart. With this new generation of missionaries going out to the field and learning these important skills, they will come home with life long principles instated. We will be able to raise a generation of children resilient to many things that most adults falter in today. cool cool sstuff. I'm sad I'm missing out on most of it. But I feel very strongly that with the few weeks I have with this new program, if I am diligent in taking to heart it's precepts, I will learn all the things God intends me to learn and take with me home. 

Today is Pday and we are going into the city. :) yayyy. We are going to take a tour of the Masonic Temple (it's not open on monday's so today is our only chance!) I'm super excited. well. I love you all dearly and hope you have a super week and enjoy that warmness happening over there. I've just come to terms with the fact that I will simply not be warm till I am in Utah...and even still I probably wont be warm enough till I'm in teexas to see that squishy baby. :)mmmmmmm. 

LLOOOVEEE,

Sister B

mmmmmmmm My favorite place in the whole world. THE DUHLWERE...it truly
is a river of peace

2/16/15 | Sometimes the Lord reminds me to be grateful...

Sometimes the Lord reminds me to be grateful...

That I'm not serving in Russia. Coldest girl in coldtown over here. The past two days have been the coldest Philadelphia has had since 1700 something. It's 10 degrees right now so it's warmed up a bit. haaaaa seriously: 

This is real life. But we're keeping warm. I've been wearing double fleece lined tights and layers upon layers of sweaters and coats. OHHH boy...this week was one for the book of crazy pants! 

Monday: We decided to wear jeans and do nothing :) We just chilled at the apartment, I made some bread and crafted and stuff. It was just lovely. 

Tuesday: tuesday was....welll bad. Sister Cost cried a lot for a few hours. We were talking about what we should do to help her with her constant deepening depression and she felt prompted to say a prayer. Before the prayer, I told her to listen very closely to any prompting or thought that would come to her mind and I would do the same. During the prayer, I felt prompted to contact the Center City Sisters (Sisters Manson and Jolley --YES! Sister jolley the gublers friend...she is seriously great and wonderful by the way) and see if we could mini exchange or something. We headed down there a few min later for a double in! Miracle! I went out with Sister Jolley and Sister Cost went out with sister manson. It turned out to be perfect because they had too many overlapping things to do that day so Sister J and I took the odds and ends things while Sisters M and C took the teaching appointments :). They went and taught a girl that is struggling with depression so it was really good for sister Cost, She was able to help her. Meanwhile sister Jolley and I had quite the adventure! haaa on my goodness we spent a couple hours driving around center city looking for a parking spot so we could get out and find a big list of less actives...by the time we found a spot...it was too late and we had to head to the church for the RS activity. That night it too another 40 min to find a parking spot..ha. We ended up parking blocks and blocks away and had to run to the apartment. We had a sleep over on the floor and left in the morning after studies. Oh wait... I almost forgot, we lost the car. We walked around for dayyysss looking for the car but couldnt find it...finally we piled up all our stuff and sent sister jolley and manson off to find it. They did and we were on our way ;). Oh mission adventures at their finest. 

Wednesday: I don't really remember what happened on wednesday; I practiced the piano for a sec cause Elders Millerberg and Issertell asked me to play for Zone training with the request of "make it fancy" ha. 

Thursday: Zone training day! It went really well! The Elders taught us effective planning with all the resources we have on the ipad and stuff. Oh Oh OH! Delta burrs: Do you knoow an Elder Shamo?? he is in my zone and he said that uncle james was his dads best man at their wedding! 

Friday: Sister cost woke up with a terrible migraine so I spent the morning studying 100 things...then I crafted up 100 things (painted, embroidered and smashed!), it all got terribly boring after a while. oh I also watched all of the district episodes, all the i'm a mormon's and 2 episodes of the joseph smith papers. ha. 

Saturday: Our heater broke in the night...it was mighty cold in the apt in the morning. The heater man came pretty quick though so we went to the church to study. Then all off our appointments cancelled because it was "too cold" (people out here are crazy) I took sister cost out to panera for lunch for valentines day becasue I am the nicest companion in the whole united states. After that we went to help  a family in the ward unpack (they just moved in). That was fun. Came home and showered off the cold so we would be decent for our dinner appointment. wonderful. 

Sunday: Damien didnt make it to church..which means he didnt get confirmed :( but it's ok, he will make it next week. Basically no one made it to church this week. that what haappens when it is too cold. Oh well. All of our appointments cancelled on sunday too.

So that's how this week went. pretty comical to look back on. This morning we took a trip down to Broomall! Sister Cost had a visit with Elder Jones (he is one of the senior couple office elders and conveniently is a psychologist too) They had a good visit and talked about what sister cost can do to help herself. meanwhile, I had THE greatest time with Sister Jones! Greatest greatest. And now we are at Pei Wei's eating crab wontons (that's right, thinking of you Mumsie pants!) 

Love you all so so much! I will send some pictures later when I get home. oh and a big bbig happy birthday to my baby PIKA!!!! I can't believe you are 14!! and happy birthday's to grandma Burr and Grandpa Bailey!!! 

L0

VE,

Sister Bailey 

2/9/15 | We had 2 really cold days and 2 really warm days this week

Helloooo! 

What a wonderful week we had here in Pennypack!..Ok actually the beginning of our week wasn't that spectacular but the end made up for it. Sister Cost has been struggling with some things, it has all been adding up and she crumbles sometimes...but then she gets to meet with the mission counselor just in time and things get better :). SIster Cost had a dream about getting a blessing, so we drove down to Frankford (where the district leader serves) and the elders gave her a blessing. I ended up asking for a blessing too because it's hard to have companions that struggle like this and I needed some extra help. It was really good. 

Despite the struggles of the week, we were able to meet with Damien a few times and finish his teaching. He is so solid! We taught him the law of chastity early in the week and it was just wonderful! He is so prepared for everything we teach him! He told us that right before he met us he started to struggle with aspects of the Law of Chastity, then after the first time we met and taught him, he felt prompted to stop those things! How cool is that!? We were able to testify to him that that experience he had was a manifestation of truth. Ah, I wish all of you could sit in on a lesson with damien, he is the perfect investigator. The District Leader came and interviewed him on thursday after district meeting and he passed :) 

Sunday we had stake conference (which was wonderful), right after the meeting was Damien's baptism! We finished filling the font and got the jumpsuits (The elders had an investigator get baptized too! Her name is Imoni) and everything was ready to go! President and Sister Anderson stayed too :). The program was beautiful and so many people came! We were on the inside of the font to give them their towels when they came out. My goodness, to have the opportunity to be the tool by which someone receives the gospel is such an incredible thing. Sister Cost was crying the whole time because she was so happy. It was just a beautiful day. After the baptism we had a light Haitian lunch (imoni is Haitian) and then we got a text from Tyreese, our investigator, saying he wanted us to come teach him! yay! So we headed to the Menezes and taught him the 10 commandments. 

Yesterday, I made a more specific effort to follow the promptings I would receive. So I followed every single random thought I got. The spirit led us to a few less actives with no success, then we knocked on Jennifer Smith's door. A LA we have been trying to get in contact with for 6+ weeks. She opened the door and exclaimed, "I knew you would come today!!!" As we were talking with her, I listened, really listened and felt prompted to show a specific mormon message with her. She cried through it and said, "that is exactly how I feel all the time." (it was you never know mormon message). We were able to testify that God loves her and knows her and sees her efforts! It was so good!

Elder Gordon Smith of the Seventy came to our stake conference meetings this weekend. He is THE MOST incredible speaker I have ever heard, I could listen to him for dayz. He told a story of when he was on an assignment in the middle east (he's a politician), he was on his way to a meeting through the desert and he saw a sign pointing to a place called Gilead. That night while he was sharing a meal with some king of some small country no one has ever heard of, he asked him if they made balm in Gilead still. The king had no idea what he was talking about so he explained how in the bible there is this balm made in Gilead. The kIng turned to his assistant and said he wanted a report on his desk in the morning regarding this balm and wether you can still get it there. Several weeks later, Elder Smith got a letter in the mail of the report. He opened the envelope and found a rather short description of the balm, taken directly from our bible dictionary :). At the bottom was written out, "We don't make it anymore." Elder Smith went on to testify that although this healing balm was no longer made in Gilead, The Savior provides that healing balm, the balm that heals all wounds! Wether physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional, His Atonement can and will heal us every time!

I was so happy to be able to see so many people I love from the Morrisville ward! I was so happy to see that so many of them remembered me, a few even ran to hug me :). I love being a missionary. There is no greater love than the love you gain from serving people and bringing the gospel into their lives. Oh I almost forgot! 2 miracles happened as we walked into stake conference on sunday! We were headed into the chapel and a man stopped us, he told us he was less active but wanted to come back, he also said that he has a neighbor that is interested in hearing from us! Then the cutest lady came and found us, she had served her mission in Ukraine and had a LA member that she taught that moved into our ward. She wanted us to contact her and help her feel needed. :) How cool is that?! pretttyyy cool i'd say. 

Well, I can tell you this, The gospel if Jesus Christ is real and true and I am so grateful that we have all been so blessed to have it in our lives! I love you all and hope you have a really wonderful week. I'm realll happy that lil button baby made it here safely. Three cheers for A. Mae! She does look really nice. 

Love,

Sister Alyssa Bailey 

Damien's baptism

Three cheers for making covenants!!

Look! It's me and sister co$t

Fresh outta the oven!! Just like baby Audrey

2/2/15

Happy February Folks! 

We had a week of miracles!!!!! 

Christy Negron came into our lives! She called us out of nowhere on tuesday and asked if we could meet with her. We were like uh yahhh! then we were like wait who was that??? ha so we set up the appointment with her for the next day at the church. 

The lesson was so good! She explained how she came out of the blue; she lived in Vineland NJ and was meeting with the missionaries there a while ago, then she moved to philly and somehow got our number and wanted to continue learning from the missionaries. She was so full of questions! So our first meeting was mostly her asking 100 questions and clearing up stuff the elders in Jersey taught her. We set up another appointment wit her at her house and invited her to invite her husband to join us. So we met with her again on friday and it was incredible! We taught the restoration and she was hanging on to every single word we said! It was wonderful. and her husband really liked it too. We commited her to be baptized on March 8th, and she accepted :). Her husband isn't sure yet but they both came to church on sunday and had a really good experience. 

Gary Dean, did I tell you about Gary?? He's the one that waltzed into the church building last sunday and wanted to learn. So we've continued teaching him this week. He also has a baptismal date for March 8th! The last time we met with him, he brought his brother with him, Greg. Greg is a bible basher. So we start teaching the restoration and it is going really well. the spirit was very very strong and gary was very emotional through it. Then Greg flipped out a little bit over his confusion between the gospels (as in matthew mark luke and john) and the gospel of jesus christ. So he spouts of for a min but we reined him back in pretty quickly. He continued to try to take the lesson off track here and there but he spirit wouldn't let him. At the end of the lesson, we offered him a Book of Mormon, he said no. So we prayed and right after the prayer he said, "actually I'll take the book, I want to read it and see" We gave him the book and he took it out to the car and started reading immediately while we were still chatting with Gary and setting up another appointment. It was really cool to see how the spirit can influence even crazy people and people who want to prove us wrong :). The next day,, Gary called us and told us that the reason he brought Greg with us was to disprove us. (gee thanks gary) He said that if Greg couldn't prove us wrong then we must be right! haa, Gary's cray.

Damien is still on schedule to be baptized this sunday! Pray for him. He is doing so good! He has such a stong testimony! 

At Zone training at the begining of the month, Elder Millerberg and Elder Zoleman commited all of us to set a goal for when we could reach all of the standards of excellence in our area. Thats reaching the mission number goals. We set a goal to hit all of them the last week of the transfer (this week) and we did it!!!!! I was so so so so soo sos happy! I love reaching goals! Our area is on fire ;) 

We did get some bad news last night though, Christy dosn't live in our area. We had to turn her over to the Jerrettown Elders but its ok because she will still get baptized and aall that good stuff. :). 

Oh my goodness, Monday! Last monday was the funnest p day in the whole united states! Tom took us to Philly with the elders and it was so so fun! We hit the rocky steps, fairmont waterworks (like on monopoly), oldest post office in merica, independence hall, liberty bell, ben franks home and had THE BEST cheese stakes everrrrrr. Just so you know, when yous go get a cheese stake, get it wit whiz!!!! YUMMM.  

Well, that's basically all I've got. I'll send some pics from last p day. I love you all 100 annd I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THAT LITTLE BUTTON!  Oh myy goodneess I bet she will look like me too :). ah little Audrey Alyssa Dickson, what a beauutiful name. Have a good time with her and stuffy stuff. until next week: 

Sister B 

That bell of Liberty.

the oldest post office. See that tunnel...Benny Frank used to walk
through there to go home every day....guess how I know that...

ROCKY BALBOA

1/26/15 | Heyyyy

Happy Monday kids! Do you remember this sign?? I found it when I was serving in morrisville and took some pictures by it. We ran into it again (since we live by it now :))

I've been doing a lot of studying and extra studying and it is really really happy making. I love studying. We had a really good district meeting this week about the holy ghost so I continued that in my studies for the past few days. It is seriously mind blowing the stuffy stuff you can learn when you study. I'll have to share it with yous some time. :)

We had a killer week! It was awesome! One of our investigators, Damien, came to church on Sunday! A member brought him home and mentioned the word of wisdom to him. So he texted us and asked what it was. We were able to teach him right then and invited him to pray to know that it came from God. he agreed to. A little later that night he texted us and told us that he had prayed and asked, the holy ghost had confirmed to him that the word of wisdom is from God! We committed him to live it and he said YES! He is a dream investigator and I know it is because he is truly prepared! He also told us how excited for his baptism he is!!! He reminds me of kollie if you remember him from west chester. 

Today we are going to center city with the elders and a guy in our ward. He is a profesh tour guide of downtown and he is taking us on a tour :)! As for the Noreasters you may have been hearing about...the storms coming through philly have been rather pathetic luckily :). We must scare them off. 

I don't have a lot of time to write but i'll attach some of sister cost letter home :) it explains pretty well how our week went in her perspective! how fun is that?! 

 Mission Update 01-26-15 : Sister Cost Style --

Miracles always seem to happen on Sunday! So we got to church on Sunday and we arrived early for our usual PEC meeting every other Sunday. After PEC we anxiously awaited the arrival of our investigator Damien. Damien finally arrived with Sister Sameniego and we were so thrilled. We sat with them during Sacrament meeting. Then Sister Escadero and her husband walked in. For those who are a little behind and don't know who Sister Escadero is she is a member of the ward and we are currently living in her basement apartment. They had us in their home on New Years Eve and I was able to tell them about my conversion. They are very very nice people! Brother Escadero however is not a member, so when he walked into the chapel as Sacrament was about to begin my faced lit up entirely. I thought to myself "Could this day get any better?!" What a blessing it was having him there! 

When church was over we met back up with him to see how things went. He told us he learned more about free agency during Priesthood and explained to us what agency was. I told yall this guy is really smart, like he just gets it. He reads the Book of Mormon and he knows how to liken it unto himself, he retains the things he reads and he tells us all about how it applies to him. He has recently been reading in Mosiah and loving it!! He texts us from time to time and asks us questions about the things he reads so that he can understand them better. He is a miracle and we are so blessed to be helping him come closer to his Father in Heaven through our Savior Jesus Christ!! After we departed and we were about to head out to a lesson at the Menezes home with another one of our investigators Tyrese the elders came and grabbed us and told us some guy had walked into our church and he was looking for the truth! WOWWW! Like what was even going on?! We went over to the other side of the building and met him. As we arrived Elder Millerberg was telling him about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy then they turned him over to us. Elder Zolman introduced us to him and told him we are "The best Sister Missionaries (he) has ever served with!" 

We told him our names and talked to him a little bit more. His name is Gary Dean; he is in his 50's, married; wife is jewish, we don't know if he has children, he lives in a house with some people who are Atheist and one who is a "preacher." He told us he has lived here a really long time and had never seen our church before until just 2 days ago he was looking at the sunset and noticed a steeple. He called his dad to find out what the "building with the steeple" was and how long it had been there. Prior to any of that jawn he had been driving around looking for a church to join. He was looking into the Presbyterian religion, but he really wanted to know if the building with the steeple was what he was looking for in his life. We talked to him about the gospel and the joy it brings to our lives, we bore testimony of it being Christ's church and he was so touched by the spirit. He told us a little about his life and the trials he has been facing, then we exchanged contact info. We are going to start meeting with him as of Tuesday! He  is yet another miracle in our lives!

Then we went and had our lesson with Tyrese at the Menezes home. We taught Tyrese about the gospel of Jesus Christ using the gospel nails. Tyrese is so awesome, he has been ready for baptism for quite a long time, the only reason he is not getting baptized sooner is because he wants his girlfriend Bruna to be there, but she is in Rexburg at BYU-I for college until April. We are hoping she will be able to get home so he can be baptized then, if not he wont get baptized until July. Keep him in your prayers, in fact keep all of them in your prayers, you can never have too many people praying for you!! After our lesson with Tyrese we went to dinner at Dana's house. Dana is going through a bit of a tough time right now with her fiancé right now and it is leaving her pretty depressed. So our company was very much appreciated! She is going to be okay though, we just know things are going to work out. We told her this is just another one of lifes trials she has to face but if she understands who wants her to give up the fight she will have an even stronger desire to hold on! Dana and Jose are the best and we sure love them a lot! 

When we left Dana's house we had another wonderful miracle happen. So Sister Sameniego gave Damien a ride to and from church and she invited him over for lunch afterward. On the way back to her house Damien asked if he could stop by the store and get a cup of coffee (we had not taught him about the Word of Wisdom yet) Sister Sameniego thought "Well this would be the perfect time to talk to him about the Word of Wisdom!" She however didn't right off the bat. She stopped and he got his coffee. When they arrived at her house her husband Nelson was there -Nelson if I have not already told you about him is not a member, but he has been meeting with the missionaries for years and he knows more about the church than I do I'm sure! He is really awesome and he is the funniest guy ever- so Nelson told Damien "Damien don't you know you are not allowed to drink coffee?!" Sister Sameniego was like "Nelson!" Then she elaborated on why he was not allowed to drink coffee. Afterward Damien texted us and asked us to explain the Word of Wisdom, so we explained it to him and when we were finished explaining it to him we committed him to pray to know that the Word of Wisdom is of God. He said he would. We then asked him once he had a confirmation from Heavenly Father that it was if he would live the Word of Wisdom and he said yes. Later on that night he texted us and told us he had prayed about it and that he would commit to live it!! Such a miracle!! He truly is GOLDEN and we are super blessed to be apart of helping him grow closer to Christ! 

I have decided the mission is kind of hard for someone who does not like change. We have a lot of changes coming up this transfer we think and I am slightly worried, but I know all things are inspired of the Lord out here and what ever it is will be something we need and will be for our benefit. God is so good to me. Sister Bailey read something to me the other day that really helped me: first she asked me "Did you think when you were set apart you were just going to be a missionary and get the missionary thing down?" I actually kind of did sad to say so I said "Yes." She said "God does not expect you to just come out here and be a missionary, he expects you to come out, put forth the effort and BECOME a missionary!" I needed to hear that. I often wondered since God is all knowing he knew I was going to come out here and have these struggles, so since he knew those things why did he want me to come out here in the first place? She answered that question right there. He does not expect that I have everything down right now, but he expects that I continually improve myself and put for the effort to get everything down. Everything in life takes time!! I am learning to be more patient with myself! Another thing that was told to me recently and that helped me out immensely is that "God knows we cannot be 100 percent obedient to his commandments, that is why he sent Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, as we continually repent (meaning feel deep sorrowful for our sins and short comings and ask for forgiveness) we are willing and have the desire to change and follow Christ. He loves us and he will forgive us. As long as we are seeking improvement through repentance and prayer and doing all other things to become more like Jesus Christ we are obedient, and through that we qualify for the companionship of the Holy Ghost! We need to constantly strive to become more like the Savior to have happiness. 

Have I told you how much I love my mission and how much I love the people I serve around?! I am learning and growing so much it honestly blows my mind how much I am learning and growing. I am grateful for the trials I encounter because they truly do make me stronger. The Lord will make weak things become strong. He is ALWAYS there for us; we are NEVER alone!! He will be there to catch you if you fall. Put all your trust in him, I can promise you he will never let you down!! This is the true church of JESUS CHRIST!! I am out here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania doing his work and I know he is with me bearing me up in my time of need, he is making me become strong in Christ. I rejoice in being his servant and I would encourage all who are worthy to serve a mission. It will be the best thing you ever do in your life. Again "When you are in the service of your fellow man, you are only in the service of your God!" Get lost in the service of others, nothing will bring more joy to your soul! Do good to those despitefully use and persecute you! I love my Heavenly Father, I love my Savior, I love the Holy Ghost and the blessing he is in my life ( I say "he" because he is a he, he is a personage of spirit. He is the third member of the Godhead!) I know I am being lifted up by the angels that surround me, they are helping me, giving me strength to fight off the lies and deceit of satan! I will come off conqueror and when the time comes I will return home with honor! I love you all so very much and cannot thank you enough for your love and support! Read the scriptures and pray daily to be protected for the satan, go to church and partake of the Sacrament to renew your covenants with Heavenly Father, if you have fallen away COME BACK "there is room for you here" I know God loves you and he wants you to have happiness in your life! I can testify to each and every one of you that only true happiness comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ! I say this in the sacred name of OUR Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen!

I echo what Sister Cost has testified of! I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you 100 degrees of goodness! 

LOVE<3

Sister B