Week 53

Hey y’all!

This week the missionaries were put in charge of hosting a “capilla abierta” or “open chapel” in our little ward building here in La Cruz. A little ways back, the Area Presidency here in the South America Northwest Area established these church open houses with the goal of getting more people (non-members, investigators, less-actives, etc.) out to see and learn more about the church and what we believe. The open house basically consists of 10-15 minute tours of the church which start in the chapel with learning about the sacrament, and then progressively move throughout the rest of the building to learn more about different topics like baptism, family history and temples, and also all the organizations within the church like Young Mens/Womens, Priesthood, and the Relief Society. It’s a really great idea for missionary work, and when we did one while I was in Sullana it was super successful. However when we heard that we were going to host one in our little building, we were a little nervous. Considering the ward activities we had tried to plan in the past, we didn’t have a whole lot of faith that our ward was going to come together to help us plan and pull this thing off. Luckily, our prayers were answered and the majority of the leaders from each organization showed up to help Thursday afternoon! We also got help from the rest of the missionaries in the zone to help everything go smoothly. Me and Elder Randall changed in to the famous white clothes to run the station that teaches about baptism. It was fun to teach with him again and to relive our glory days of being companions in Piura. Although overall we didn’t get a whole lot of visitors for the tours, the open house went a lot better then expected, and I think it was good for strengthening the leaders and members of our ward. Definitely a miracle!

This week we decided we decided to get a little more creative in getting references and finding new people to teach by inviting everyone to an english class that we had Friday night in the church. Everyone around here absolutely loves to learn anything English, so a lot of people were actually pretty interested in coming. We had a pretty good turnout of about 10-15 people who showed up ready to learn. taught the basics of how to introduce yourself, say where your from, etc. It was super funny to try to teach them the pronunciation of words over and over and over again, and they just couldn’t hack it. It made me think of my first days in the CCM over a year ago when I literally could not say or understand a thing in Spanish. I think of how far I have come since then and it blows my mind. The gift of tongues is real!

On Saturday while knocking doors, we found the sweetest old lady you could ever imagine named Teodosa. Teodosa is 85 years old and lives all by herself. We sat with her for more than an hour as she explained to us her whole life story. She told us about how much she loved her husband, and how over their 50+ years of marriage they never fought and always stuck together. She then broke down in tears telling us about how she has lost 3 of her 4 kids: one to cancer, one to a brain tumor, and the other had been killed in a car accident. She also told us that her last son is in prison right now on false charges. So, Teodosa literally has no one to help her. She has little money, and can barely get around the house. As we sat and talked with her, I kept thinking how I was sure that I had never found anyone as “poor in spirit” as this humble lady. We shared with her God’s plan for us, and then I had a strong impression to give her a priesthood blessing. As I put my hands on her head the spirit was so strong and I felt that through the blessing, the Lord was able to tell Teodosa the comforting words that she needed to hear. As we left, tears rolled down her face as she thanked us for our visit. I’m so grateful for the power of the Priesthood and the blessings it brings into our lives. I’m also grateful that the Lord was able to guide us to one of his children that was in need of help that day. 

On Thursday I hit my year mark! I really can’t believe I’ve been out on my mission for a year. Somehow it feels likes like such a short time I’ve been gone but at the same time an eternity. Despite being one of the hardest and most challenging things I’ve ever done, being on this mission is the best decision I’ve ever made for my life. I look back on this last year and think of the people I have met, miracles I’ve seen, challenges I’ve overcome, and the man I am becoming. It’s truly amazing and I’ll always be grateful for my mission and the things I’m learning here. I’m now starting the third quarter, which they say is always the most crucial of the game. ;) It shapes the outcome of the rest of the ball game…

My thought this week is one of my favs in all of the Book of Mormon. Here is Alma teaching his son, Helaman, and comparing the Liahona to the words of Christ:

38 And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the thing which our fathers call a ball, or director—or our fathers called it Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass; and the Lord prepared it.

39 And behold, there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship. And behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course which they should travel in the wilderness.

40 And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day.

41 Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey;

42 Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did nottravel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their transgressions.

43 And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a shadow; for as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things were temporal) they did not prosper; even so it is with things which are spiritual.

44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.

46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

Let us not be slothful! Follow the words of Christ.

Avanza su verdad!

Elder Bailey

Week 52

¿Qué tal amigos?

This week we finally got to meet President and Hermana Vega. On Wednesday we had a conference with all of the Zona Tumbes where we got some training from both President and Hermana Vega. They are definitely a change from Pres. and Hermana Rasmussen, but I really like them. They’re very by-the-book and are going to bring a lot of good change to the mish. Hermana Vega is all about living clean and eating healthy, and has been roasting the mission on how we have been living. I’m definitely a fan of eating healthy and living clean so I can’t complain on that change. One thing I really like about them is that they are fully-invested in their calling. During a little get-to-know-you interview with Hermana Vega, she explained to me and Elder Anticona how her and President Vega have sold their home, basically all their possessions, and have left their jobs and their family and friends to come here to serve the Lord for 3 years. Us missionaries obviously sacrifice things to be here as well, but it seemed to me as if they had left a lot behind in Colombia. It reminds me of the Book of Mormon; When the Lord called, “he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, [and] he did as the Lord commanded him.” What great examples. It really makes me question: what am I willing to give up to be obedient to the word of the Lord? 

Speaking of sacrifices, after our district meeting in Tumbes on Saturday we came across a small Venezuelan family consisting of a mom and two young boys selling candles in the plaza. They stopped us to ask where the nearest church building was. After giving them the direction to the nearest church, we started to ask them where they were from and what they were doing in Perú. The mom told us that just a little bit ago, they fled from Venezuela on foot to escape from all of the problems happening there. She said that they had walked for 6 days towards Perú, until a small bus offered to pick them up. They had left everything they owned in Venezuela with hopes of finding a better life somewhere else. What touched me the most out of their incredible story, was that despite being converts of only 4 months, and despite the limited number of items they could bring with them on their journey, they had carried with them a backpack that was filled with a Bible, triple (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price), Liahona magazines, and their limited-use recommends for the temple.  It was amazing to see such a humble family and that wherever they went, they wanted to make sure that they had the word of God with them.

Well I shouldn’t have joked about the freezing cold showers a few weeks ago, because now I would love to go back to showering at all, cold water or not. Like Elder Randall has mentioned in some of his emails, the water up here in the Tumbes region comes and goes like the wind. One day we have it, the next day we don’t. Unfortunately, the water this week decided to disappear, so this week we had the fun experience of taking bucket showers with the little drinking water we have. A bucket shower is better than nothing. But it's almost impossible to feel like you’re actually clean, especially when we have such little water to shower with. Hopefully we’ll get water soon! Moral of the story: Never take for granted your warm, running-water showers if you have them! The mission is an adventure :)

This past week we have been teaching three different young girls who are all going to be baptized on the 4th of August. Two of them, Lucero and Yemeli (both age 11), are kids of non-member parents who attend church and want to be baptized but aren’t married. The other, Lucilia (age 9), is part of an active member family who slacked off a little and never had their daughter baptized when she was 8. So we get to count her as a convert baptism for the missionaries, haha. They are all super young but for that reason I absolutely love teaching them. They understand lessons and doctrine so easily while adults with much more experience and education seem to struggle understanding sometimes. Little kids have their hearts and their minds open and are ready to be taught by the spirit. Hopefully everything will go well and we’ll have 3 baptisms on the 4th. Ojalá!

Auanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey

Week 51

BREAKING NEWS: I got to wear a sweater! After almost a year of being up here in the heat of Northern Peru, we finally had a day that I thought was cool enough to throw on a sweater as we went about our day. Being right on the coast here in La Cruz means sometimes we get a cool ocean breeze that rolls in. It’s great. The occasion of wearing a sweater was so rare that I had to stop and snag a pic with it for you guys.

The work here in our area is moving forward! Right now we are working closely with a handful of people who are genuinely interested in the gospel and are attending church. A few weeks ago we started teaching a 15-year old stud named Arni, who we found outside his house one day fighting his beloved pet chicken against his friend’s chicken. We stopped to watch the fight and then after we were able to sit them down and teach them. Arni liked the message, and so we’ve been teaching him for a few weeks now. We are also teaching a young couple named Carlos and Mercy. They have been receiving the missionaries for quite some time now, and the only thing that is keeping them from being baptized is that they aren’t married and are living together. That’s definitely the big challenge with everyone here. When you knock a door and teach a family, you can just automatically assume that they are not married. It’s a little frustrating sometimes. I’ve yet to find a couple here (that aren’t members of the church) that have been married. So, right now they have plans to get married on the 28th of July, and to be baptized on August 4th. Hopefully everything will go as planned! We are definitely being showered with blessings from the Lord right now. We are finding lots of new families to teach, and things are looking good. The work is great here.

As good as the investigators are coming along, we are still struggling a little bit in the strength of the ward. This Sunday we took a huge hit in our overall church attendance as a ward, maybe due to the fact that the World Cup final was right during our sacrament meeting. Each week the bishop tries to hold ward council, but all the leaders of the ward bounce out of there after the 3-hour block. It’s a little frustrating and a test of patience, especially when we want to ask for support from the members for our investigators. We are going to start visiting the members a little more during this week to help strengthen them. In thinking about trying to strengthen our tiny ward here, I think of how hard it must have been for the prophet Joseph Smith and his colleagues to newly establish Christ’s church in the year 1830 with only 6 members. It’s nothing short of a miracle and evidence of the truthfulness of the gospel that it was able to grow and expand from 6 members in 1830 to millions of members in hundreds of countries today, in such a short amount of time. It truly is a marvelous work that is unfolding and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. 

For P-day today, we headed up to Tumbes to play a zone vs. zone soccer match on a full-sized field. It was super fun to get out and play on a huge field, rather then the little concrete courts that we’re all accustomed to here in the mission. Let’s just say that me and Elder Randall are quite the dynamic duo for zone Tumbes, and that you can save us a spot on the US national team when we get home. ;)

Well that’s the quick update for this week. Like I always say, I’m grateful for the chance I have to be out here serving the Lord at this time. Although it’s hard work, and things don’t always go as planned, it’s always so rewarding. I absolutely love representing the two best names in the world on my chest: the name of my savior Jesus Christ and my family name of Bailey. What a blessing!

Avanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey

Week 50

Well I am highly convinced that my area, La Cruz, is low-key the coolest area in the mission Peru, Piura. It is sooo much different than the busy city life of Sullana and Piura, and like I guessed last week, it is literally a city right on the beach. Each morning we walk 5 minutes from our room to have our companionship study right on the water. There’s a lot more hills and trees and just a little more rural overall. I guess you could say that it’s a little more what I pictured when I opened my mission call to serve in Peru.The hills, the humble homes, and the wild pigs and horses that roam around all make for a genuine Peruvian experience. I love it here!

 As much as I love the new area, we had a little bit of a rough start with our apartment. So last Monday when we rolled my bags into our apartment, right off the bat I wasn’t too impressed from the looks of things. I wouldn’t say that this mission, is known for it’s luxurious apartments, but this one ad some problems. The room was basically a giant concrete box that felt like living in an unfinished basement, and trapped in all the heat like a sauna. the front door was broken so we couldn’t really lock the door to leave, and the most fun of all? We had a rat infestation. Every time we came bak to our room wed find our papers chewed up and rat poop on the floor, in the kitchen, and on our beds. Each day we had to store all our food in the drawers of our dresser and in the refrigerator to keep those little buggers from munching on our food. Luckily, we were able to talk with our zone leaders and got permission to go house hunting. We found a nice little roomiest up the road and made plans to move in Thursday morning. However on Wednesday night when we came back from playing soccer with the ward, we opened the door to our room and found one of the rats. The guy was about a foot long head to tail and we chased him until we had him cornered under my bed. We quickly made a plan that I would quickly move the bed, Elder Matute (Ecuador) would scare the rat our of the corner and Elder Rojas (Mexico) would try to hit him with a broom. After we were ready to execute the plan, we move the bed and Elder Matute ran over to corner to scare the rat out of the corner, but nothing happened. The sneaky guy was nowhere to be found. We were super confused, knowing that the rat had nowhere to escape and we had him cornered. After looking around for a minute we had no idea where the big guy went. Finally I had the idea to lift up the mattress above where the rat was, and sure enough there was a little hole under the mattress. Before we were able to move the bed, he must've climbed up into the whole in the old mattress. We threw off my sheets and blankets and shook and stomped all over the mattress to try to get him to come out but it was no luck. He wasn’t gonna budge. So, considering it was either sleep on the mattress with our new amigo, or sleep on the floor with all his other amigos, I decided to throw the sheets and blankets back on and go to bed as if nothing happened. I guess its not everyday that you get to sleep with a rat living in your mattress! Good times. On Thursday we were able to move into our new room which is really nice. And yes, we were able to get some new mattresses too, lol. So yeah, you really do get to make some fun memories out here in the mission. 

The missionary work here in La Cruz is just as awesome as the landscape. People seem to be so much more open to hearing and accepting our message. It seemed as if nobody rejected s this week. It’s a big change from my last area in Piura. I think the people here are a little ore humble and seem to have some more free time. Right now we are teaching quite a few people and trying to see who will progress. Missionary work is like sifting for gold, you have to sift through hundreds of pounds of dirt and sand to find those few precious pieces of gold, Right now you could say that we are “sifting” through our investigators. Hopefully we will find some gold pretty soon here.

On Sunday church was pretty interesting. This ward here is a lot smaller than my other two wards I’ve served in and I really feel like can help strengthen this ward, and I’m excited to serve here to do just that. 

Last week for P-day we went up an hour North from La Cruz to a huge market called aguas verdes, which is the border between Peru and Ecuador. It was pretty cool to walk around around the market and talk with foreigners from all over the world. 

Lately I’ve been studying the talks from this last general conference. With each talk I read, I feel so grateful that we live in a time with prophets, seers, and revelations. What a blessing it is to have these inspired men in our lives and to hear the word and will go the Lord every 6 months! I think it’s something that we definitely take for granted every now and then. I challenge everyone to read and study the talks from this last conference! I promise you will be blessed and will feel the Lord more closely in your life! 

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July! I miss living in the greatest country in the world;) God bless America.

Avanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey

Week 49

Elder Bailey didn’t write a group email this week but he sent some great pictures of his new area.

I will copy and paste a few of his comments from our email conversation:

“My new area is called "La Cruz", and its a small city about 20 minutes south of Tumbes (Tumbes is up in Northern Peru near the border of Ecuador). I love it because Tumbes is a big, busy city (like Piura) but I'm a little bit away from it and its more quiet and stuff. It is literally a beach town. Its clean, quiet, and the people are open to hearing the good word. It's totally more Peruvian than my first two areas. However, we had to change rooms quick hahah. Ill explain in my letter. Lets just say a huge rat crawled into my mattress hahahaha"

"The new apartment is great!!! It's my best room yet hahah. He's cool! I like him a lot (His companion)."

"This picture literally breaks my heart!!! Make sure to download and save it” (His mission president and wife just completed their mission).

“Pres. Rasmussen may be the most Christlike person I've met. He's amazing! Not sure when I’m going to meet him (the new mission president), but I wanna meet him soon!"

“Man I’m sad I'm gonna miss my favorite holiday this week….(4th of July)"

"Can't believe it was just a year ago when we found out that Hayward betrayed us hahahah"

And a few pictures: