Sister Alyssa 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