Week 82

With the exciting new changes, Elder Bailey was unable to get a letter written this week. Their internet time is still only an hour and so between trying to get our video chat to work (we ended up only being able to hear him for 20 min) he was unable to write an email. Hopefully we can get the timing down better next week!

He had a great week, the highlight being a trip to visit his first area of Sullana! He loves the people there so much. He was able to see one of his converts, Mercedes, before she left for her mission to Guatemala. He said it was so amazing to see one of the people he found and baptized be so converted to the Lord and ready to serve Him on her own mission! He was also able to see Joseph. Those two have a special bond as Joseph was Elder Bailey’s first baptism on his mission. 

Also, there was a multi zone conference this last week and he was able to see the elder he trained, Elder Huarcaya, and then the Elder that Elder Huarcaya trained. He said it was his “heritage” (his son and grandson).

It was a great week! Looking forward to next Monday! :)

Week 81

We be workin!

Honestly this week flew! We had so many things this week everything feels like  a blur. Ill do my best to remember some of what happened to fill yall in.

On Wednesday, a few of us missionaries here in Piura were invited to a special  FSY (EFY) "face to face" activity, where each missionary was paired up with 3 of the youth. We then had about a half an hour with the kids, where they could ask us any question about the mission, day to day life, the MTC, companions, teaching, challenges, etc. I was paired up with 3 kids that were obviously only at the FSY camp because their parents wanted them to go, but they were really cool guys. I believe I helped them out a lot. I was really straight up with them and encouraged them to find out for themselves what is most important in their lives, and to find their own testimonies of the gospel. I really bonded with them, and I saw a lot of potential in each one of them. They reminded me a lot of myself when I was their age, and it made me realize how far Ive come in the past few years, and also how much my mission has changed me. Like Ive said many times, my mission has been the best thing ever for my life. I hope all three of those guys make it out on their missions.

Tuesday night, we had an appointment with Rosa Miranda, our older (eternal) investigator who has a date to be baptized on the 23rd. She is doing great! She is super motivated with her new baptismal goal, and told us a really cool experience. She said that when she got back from her baptismal interview last week, she threw out all of her coffee! She informed us that normally, if she doesnt have her coffee in the morning and the afternoon, she has bad headaches and cant function. However, this week she told us that despite not having her usual coffee breaks, she didnt have one single headache, and had energy all day long. When we asked her why she thought that was, she said "because I am keeping the commandments, and I have the spirit!" It was so cool to hear that from her. What a great gospel truth. When we keep the commandments we live a better life, feel great, and we have the spirit. Rosa is just about ready for baptism!

Well, I had lots that I wanted to share this week, but for lack of time Im not going to be able to. Just know that we saw many miracles this week! The hand of the Lord is definitely here in our area. I love this work!

(Also, this week I got my first dog bite of my mission! We were just trying to enter into a house to teach a family and their big pitbull must have been having a bad day. He got me pretty bad on my knee and also put a few holes in the top of my shoe, and in my trusty Book of Mormon that I always carry around, lol. I thought maybe Id make it through my mission without a crazy dog story. I guess not!)

Os amo a vosotros.

Avanza Su verdad!

Elder Bailey

Week 80 - It's Heating up!!

Another good week! Things are really rollin' here in Los Pinos. We are now in the heart of summer here in Piura and its definitely getting toasty. Most days it feels like you just cant escape the heat. They dont call it the (city of eternal heat) for nothing.  Over the past year and a half, Ive discovered that the trick is just learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable! I hope youre all thoroughly enjoying your cold winter back home in Utah. Im pretty sure Ive forgotten what its like to be cold...

On Tuesday, we headed out early in the morning to go visit our investigator, Arturo, but we couldn{t find him. Right as we were about to leave, a couple of members of our ward that lived a few houses down yelled over to us saying they needed some help. We went over to see what they needed, and found them in a small empty lot working on putting together a new house. Even though we were in our normal shirt and tie attire, we jumped right in and helped them lift up some metal sheets on top of some wooden beams that would serve as their roof for the house. It took some time, and we got pretty dirty and sweaty, but those faithful members were pretty grateful for our help. Im not convinced that they would have been able to put the roof up without our help. I felt like we were there in the right place at the right time. It was pretty incredible to see how simple and humble that house was, and the process it took to build it. It had a dirt-sand floor, thin plywood walls, and couldnt have been any bigger than 25x25 feet in dimension, and yet Im sure a family of 5 or 6 will live in it. So often we take for granted the quality of life that we have. We are so blessed. 

Tuesday afternoon we visited Rosa, a young mom with a little daughter that we are teaching. The first time we knocked on their door to teach them, we heard the voice of a young girl yell from the inside "one second!" in perfect english, which really shocked us. Turns out that Rosa, the mom, lived in the states for about 8 years and married a guy from Arkansas there. They had a daughter, Summer, who speaks both english and spanish perfectly. Rosa has had a little bit of trouble getting her Visa to stay  in the states, so she and her daughter Summer are here in Piura while they get things figured out. Turns out that Rosa and her husband had  the missionaries back in Arkansas a few times, and even went to church there. So, she already knows quite a bit about the church. However, this is the first time that she has heard the lessons in her native language. We are really trying to help her to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, to really put together all the things she has been taught before, and to know that they are true. They are a pretty awesome little family. Its really weird though to talk to them in english. Its not every day you find people that can speak english here. Hopefully they can progress.

On Thursday and Friday, we did a work visit with the elders in Catacaos. Catacaos is a little town about 15 minutes from Piura that is super cool. Its full of traders and artisans and all that kind of stuff, and just has a cool feeling to it. Its the place that everyone goes to buy suveniors at the end of their mission. I worked with one of my good buddies from the beggining of my mission, Elder Alanoca from Boliva. We had a good time together and found some cool peeps. Its always fun to explore new places and work with other elders.

This week Rosa (I mentioned her last week) had her baptisimal interview. Unfortunetly, she didnt pass. It was a huge bummer for us, but she now has a few goals to complete, and looks like shell be ready to go in about 2 weeks. Were going to keep working and praying for her.

On Sunday, we finsished off the week great with 7 people that came to church! It was awesome. I cant remember the last time I had 7 people attend. It was definitely a miracle. Were excited to see what the future holds here in this area. We have a lot of great people that we are teaching.

Today for P-Day we balled out! We got all the boys together in the mission who played before the mission, to get a good session of hoop. Like the other times Ive played, it wasnt anything too great, only as good as concrete courts and wood backboards can get. It was fun though to match up with my guy Elder Randall just like the good ole' days back at Fairfield Jr. High.

"But behold, he did deliver them because they did humble themselves before him; and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him. (Mosiah 29:20)

I love this work! Have a good week.

(Also, shoutout to the little bro! Happy birthday Aus! Youre an adult now... Hope its a good one. Love ya.)

Avanza Su verdad!

Elder Bailey