Week 14

What’s up my friends and family?

I hope you’re all doing great.We had a really good week here in Sullana! Really eventful, too. We knocked a lot of doors and found a lot of cool new people this week which was a nice breath of fresh air. 

On Tuesday, we had another appointment with the son of our bishop, named Jefry. He’s 22 and not a member of the church. We’ve been teaching him for basically all the time we’ve been here in Sullana, and trying to get him to progress towards baptism. He has been progressing really really well, and totally has a testimony of everything we have taught him. We were pretty dang confident that he would be baptized on his scheduled date for Saturday. We even went through all the baptismal interview questions with him and he had no problems. Everything was going great until we asked about his baptism on Saturday. He then proceeded to tell us that he wants to get baptized, but that he has his own date in mind for the 1st of February.  We were really bummed, but I reminded Elder Bayona that we have done everything we could, and have done our part. Everyone has their agency. That’s one thing you have to know as a missionary, you can’t measure your success off of numbers and baptisms alone. If you are obedient and doing all that you can to fulfill your objective as a missionary and to bring the gospel to others, you are a successful missionary in the eyes of the Lord. Everyone has their own choice as to what they do. All we can do is invite. But yeah, kind of a bummer with Jefry. We are going to keep working with him. 

On Wednesday we had another lesson with Juan on the commandments. He is a super humble guy, and really accepting of everything. Every time we come to see him he gets excited and says,”My brothers! Gracias a Dios!” and gives us a hug. He’s awesome and he’s progressing towards his baptismal date for next Saturday. He does need to attend Church more, so we will see about him. 

In the afternoon we had a lesson with Karla. She’s 18, and is like the perfect member. She has continued to progress and learn a lot about the gospel after her baptism, and she wants to serve a mission next year. She also knows English pretty well so it’s fun to talk to her. Anyways, when we got into her house and started asking how she was and then started the lesson, I realized that Elder Bayona wasn’t saying anything. Even when I would finish saying a thought or something and look at him, he just smiled and said nothing. I then realized what he was trying to do, and so I gave the whole lesson on service solo. He chimed in at the end to bear testimony on what I had taught, but other then that, I gave the entire lesson. When we left, he looked at me, smiled and said, “You passed.” It was a nice confidence booster to see that I can give any lesson on my own. I’ve really seen my progress with my Spanish improve over the last few weeks. It’s sweet. 

Wednesday night we had a short lesson with Sonya, the mom of Lander. Their whole family is really cool. What was really awesome was her littlest son, Stalyn, made us a little card about Jesus and gave it to us. He is the cutest little kid ever. It was great. 

On Thursday most of our appointments fell through, so we knocked a lot of doors. We didn’t have very much success in getting into people’s houses to teach, but we gave out a ton of pass along cards. Anyway we can get the word out about the church, we’re gonna do it. One really cool thing that happened though was we went to have a return visit with a man named Segundo, who had let us in the last time and we were able to teach him about the restoration of Christ’s church and also the Book of Mormon. He expressed to us that he has his own church, but that he does like to read, an said that he would read the Book of Mormon and think about it. So when we got to his house he wasn’t there, but he had someone else that he lives with give us a note from him. The note basically said that he was working that day and couldn’t meet with us, but that he wanted our number and wants to meet on Monday. This was super awesome, especially for me personally. I’ve had a little bit of a hard time so far in my mission with the reliability of people here, and trying to set appointments and get people excited about our message. Usually it’s a little bit of a struggle to find people that really want us to return to teach them more. A lot of times people listen to our message but aren’t fully engaged in our lessons or simply aren’t interested in what we have to say. Segundo however, is on the ball. He ended up calling us the day after on Friday to schedule a specific time for us to come. It seems like he is genuinely interested and I hope that he’s been able to read his Book of Mormon, I’m really excited to teach him again. He seems like he could be a really good investigator. We will see.

Friday was quite the interesting day. We woke up early to go play soccer with our zone. I was pretty tired and didn’t feel like going, but Elder Bayona really wanted to go. We got up and ended up going, but I kind of had a bad attitude and was a little grumpy. I think that it was for this reason that God reprimanded me a little. ;) When we were playing, I jumped near the sideline of the court to head the ball and hit my head pretty hard on one of the poles of a volleyball net that was next to the court. I immediately started bleeding pretty bad so I went into the church to take a look. I had split open my head just a little above my eye. It wasn’t too big or serious but from the look of it, I knew I would probably need stitches. I called Hermana Rasmussen and she thought I should probably go get it looked at as well. So we went to the clinic here in Sullana and I ended up getting two stitches to fix it up. So yeah, interesting way to start the day, lol. Lesson learned: Always have a good attitude about going to play soccer. ;) Now people stare at me even more then normal in the streets with the stitches and the black eye, hehe. 

Later that day we had another interesting experience. We had been knocking a lot of doors and we were heading to an appointment when we passed by one specific house. For some reason I stopped and looked at it. Elder Bayona asked if I wanted to knock it and I said, “Why not?”. We knocked and a 15 year old kid named Javier opened and he was super awesome. He really likes basketball and I was able to talk about the NBA and stuff with him. I told him that I played on a team before my mission and he thought that was super cool. We then started to teach him about the restoration and what we believe in and our purpose as missionaries. He was really receptive and super attentive during the lesson. He told us he would read the Book of Mormon, pray, and come to Church. He seems really, really awesome. One of the best people I’ve taught so far on my mission. And to think we almost passed by his house…crazy.

Not much happened on Saturday. We did some servicer for Karla and her family in a garden area of their house that had a lot of debris in it. It was pretty fun. Service is the best. Every time we do service for someone I always think of the words of King Benjamin in Mosiah 2:17, “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” How awesome is it that through our service to others around us, we can literally serve God. I challenge you all to look for specific instances where you can serve or help someone this week, big or small. There is so much happiness and joy that can be found in the service of others. It’s the best.

Well, that was my week! I hope you are all doing well back home. I love and appreciate all the support! You are all amazing.

Hasta la próxima semana, 

Elder Bailey

“”When you are faithful on average days, then you will see exceptional days.” (Quote I really like that I heard this week.)

Week 13

Hey everyone! 

I hope you had a good week. I dont really have much time to write, but ill just share a quick thought from President Uchtdorf that my mom shared with me a few weeks back:

"I testify that when we embark upon or continue the incredible journey that leads to God, our lives will be better.

This does not mean that our lives will be free from sorrow. We all know of faithful followers of Christ who suffer tragedy and injustice—Jesus Christ Himself suffered more than anyone. Just as God makes the “sun to rise on the evil and on the good,” He also allows adversity to test the just and the unjust. In fact, sometimes it seems that our lives are more difficult because we are trying to live our faith.

No, following the Savior will not remove all of your trials. However, it will remove the barriers between you and the help your Heavenly Father wants to give you. God will be with you. He will direct your steps. He will walk beside you and even carry you when your need is greatest.

You will experience the sublime fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, [and] faith.”

These spiritual fruits are not a product of temporal prosperity, success, or good fortune. They come from following the Savior, and they can be our faithful attendants even in the midst of the darkest storms.

The fires and tumults of mortal life may threaten and frighten, but those who incline their hearts to God will be encircled by His peace. Their joy will not be diminished. They will not be abandoned or forgotten.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,” the scriptures teach, “and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Those who heed the inner call and seek God, those who pray, believe, and walk the path the Savior has prepared—even if they stumble along the path at times—receive the consoling assurance that “all things shall work together for [their] good.”

For God “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again."

I just love this. I especially love the part that says our trials and afflictions won't automatically be removed when we follow Christ. I testify that God will not always allow our lives to be perfect and how we want them to be. He allows us to go through hard things as our faith is tested. If we call upon our Heavenly Father in our trials he will help us every step of the way. I have seen this manifest in my life many times. If we can just humble ourselves and trust in him, he will comfort us through hard times.

All is well here in Peru, I love you all and have a great week!!

Elder Bailey

Week 12 - Transfers

Hey Everyone! 

Hope you are doing good. I officially made it through my first transfer here in the mission field. Surprise! I’m not going anywhere. Mot at least for another six weeks. I am a little nervous for next transfer though. Literally anything can happen. Elder Thompson is an elder here in Sullana and on Saturday he got the news that he is going to be training a new elder starting on Tuesday. The crazy thing is that he is only one transfer ahead of me, and is just finishing his training. So who knows what will happen. The good news is I have another 6 weeks to think about it and make my projections. ;)

This week we started teaching the nephew of a member we know. He’s 11 and his name is Darlin. He has been really receptive of what we’ve taught and we set a date for him to be baptized on the 11th of November. We also set a baptismal date for an investigator we’ve been teaching named Juan. He’s been a really good investigator so far. We should be in the baptismal font a few more times this transfer. As long as our peeps can keep progressing towards their dates. 

On Thursday we had a multi-zone conference in Piura. It was super fun and I learned a ton. President Rasmussen talked about how everybody in the Church is a leader, and how everyone has an important and sacred calling. WE also got to hear the final testimonies of all the missionaries that are heading home. They all gave powerful testimonies and it was really cool to hear them say how much they’ve grown on their missions and also how fast the time has passed for them. I’ve been thinking a lot about the time I have here on my mission, and how valuable the time is. I’ve constantly been repeating in my mind something that one of my best friends Logan Brant said to me, “We have two years to be out here, to work hard, and serve the Lord and the rest of our lives to think about what we did.” This really hit me hard and has made me want to to have absolutely no regrets about my work here in Peru. I want to serve the Lord with everything I have and be able to say that I couldn’t have done anything more. I’m grateful for this opportunity that I have and I'm going to take advantage of it and just like they said in sports growing up, I’m going to “leave it all out in the field”.

I’ll finish with a scripture I read this week in Alma 26:

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boastof my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

I know that we, like Ammon in these scriptures, are weak. But I also know that through the Lord we can do all things, and we can bring many miracles into our lives. We should all “boast” of our God and praise him every day  for all He has given us and helps us with.

Que tengan una semana fantastica!

Nos Vemos, y TCOB

Elder Bailey

Week 11

Hello my friends!

I hope you’re all doing just great. I don’t have a ton to report on, but a few cool things happened.

Last P-day we decided as a zone to go to a place called Morropón. On Sunday night we all headed in to Piura and spent the night at the mission office. We then woke up at 5:00 the next morning to take a bunch of buses and moto-taxis up to this place. Morropón is awesome. It was what I pictured in my mind how my mission would be when I got called to Peru. It was super mountainous and pretty green. There were random houses and shacks scattered around the mountains and it was just super cool. We hiked one of the trails that went to a waterfall and chilled there for an hour or so. Overall, it was pretty awesome. I can now check “hike through the mountains of Peru” off of my bucket list.

On Thursday we had a lesson with a recent convert named Yosi. After our lesson, she invited us to stay and eat dinner. Her brother turned on the Peru vs. Argentina game and we were able to watch the end of it with them. Sorry Isaac, your boys from Argentina couldn’t get it done. ;) It ended in a tie, which was a total victory for all the people here. Everyone went crazy in the streets after. Futbol is definitely the religion of Peru. It’s crazy. Apparently Peru only needs one more point to have a chance to make it to the World Cup for the first time since 1984. I believe they have one more game against Columbia on Tuesday or Wednesday. If they tie or win, everyone is going to go nuts. Vamos Peru!

On Friday we had a lesson with a 16 year old girl named Ana Lucia. We had found her while street contacting about a week or so ago, and we had made an appointment to teach her. When we knocked on her door she did not want to let us in. After talking to her on her porch for some time she finally budged and we were able to go in. She explained to us that she had experiences a lot of death in her family and that it was very hard for her because she did not believe that there was life after death. We were able to share our knowledge pf the Plan of Salvation and how we can find hope in Jesus Christ and His gospel. I definitely spoke with words that were not mine. The spirit was so strong as I testified that Jesus Christ has overcome death, and we will all live again. I was able to share with her the doctrines found in Alma 11: “Now there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death. The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time.” As I mentioned, the Spirit was so powerful and I know that she felt it in her heart. I could see the desire to change and believe in her eyes. I know that we can all find hope in the gospel and in Jesus Christ. It is the only way to find lasting peace and happiness. I know that because of Christ we will all live again. What a blessing. 

So far this mission has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It has taken a lot of sacrifice, persistence, and hard work. They call it missionary work for a reason. But as hard as it’s been, it’s also been rewarding. I have never felt so close to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It’s amazing how you can be brought so much close to them while helping others. As hard as the day to day work is, it’s worth it, and I will gladly do the will of the Lord even if that means I have to suffer a little bit. I know that this is the work of the Lord, and I’m grateful for this opportunity I have to play a part in it. 

Talk to you next week!

Nos Vemos, 

Elder Bailey