Week 87

Man, I’ve really been slacking lately with these emails! Hopefully I can explain some of what’s been going on around here. Due to the injury that I explained in my last update, we honestly haven’t been able to get out and work at the pace that we’d like to. On top of what happened to me, my companion had a pretty nasty ingrown toenail removed this week (I’m not the only missionary that has suffered from the toenails!). However injuries aside, it has been incredible to see how the Lord has been providing for us. We have been seeing lots of miracles here in our area and in the zone. It’s been amazing. I attribute those miracles to our obedience and hard work that we’ve been putting in despite our setbacks. Our work is paying off!

On Wednesday we had our third EnglishConnect class. Like we predicted, each Wednesday night we have a smaller and smaller group to teach. But that’s ok! Only the faithful will learn… It’s always a blast to get up in front of everyone to teach them some English. They all seem to love learning from a gringo like me.

On Friday I had the opportunity to interview a 16 year old kid named Diego for baptism. It was awesome to hear his testimony and hear his conversion story. He told me that a little while back while he was still searching for an answer, he had a dream one night where he saw himself walking down the street wearing a white shirt and tie, and a black tag on his chest. He woke up from the dream in the middle of the night, grabbed his Book of Mormon, and started to read. After that experience, he knew that everything that the elders had taught him was true, and that he needed to go down this path and be baptized. He is extremely excited for his baptism and to start preparing to serve a mission in the future. I could really see something special in Diego.

Friday night we got the whole zone together and had a contacting activity in Catacaos! We made two giant wearable boxes of the Bible and the Book of Mormon and went about contacting just about everyone we saw. We were able to get quite a few references, especially for the elders there in Catacaos. We were even able to contact the Jehova’s Witnesses with their bookstand there in the plaza #eficaz. Good times.

On Sunday we saw some miracles! First off we had 8 investigators come to church! It seemed like just about everyone we are teaching showed up. Super awesome. Later, we were finishing off the day, and we were still really short on new investigators for the week due to the time we couldn’t work this week. I thought in my mind that there was no way that we would be able to reach our goal. I shouldn’t have doubted, because just in that same moment a guy yelled at us in the street saying “Hey! When are you guys going to teach us?” Our first thought was that it was just one of the many drunk guys in street making fun of us, but we decided to turn around go talk to him. The guy turned out to be someone who really wanted us to teach him and his family. We ended up teaching him and his huge family of 6 or 8 people, and scheduled a time for us to come back. It was 100% a miracle in our eyes. The Lord always provides!

I love you all!

“You are God's agents in the care of children He has entrusted to you. Let His divine influence remain in your hears as you teach and persuade.” 
― Russell M. Nelson  

Avanza Su verdad!

Week 85 - Too many medical problems

Another medical problem! This week I probably gave the health secretary (Elder Randall) a little scare when I gave him the call that I had a 2-inch cut on my leg that went to the bone. Tuesday morning, Elder Ospina and I were jogging down the sidewalk when I looked back at him to make sure he was keeping up, and I stepped into a huge hole in the middle of the sidewalk and banged up my shin pretty bad. I took my leg out  of the hole and saw a gash in my shin that went all the way to the bone. Pretty crazy. We headed over to the hospital to get some stitches and an x-ray. Luckily, just some bruising and no breaks!! #Blessed

Have a great week! I love you all.

Avanza Su verdad!

Elder Bailey

Week 84

Hey it’s been a minute! Things have been pretty crazy over the last 2 weeks around here. Sorry for not being able to keep you guys updated! Hmm, let’s see…

On Monday after talking with the fam, me and my comp went to a place called “Club Grav” which is basically the biggest and nicest country club here in Piura. To give a little background, one day while we were walking down the street, my companion Elder Morgan (who was a state champion in tennis in his school) freaked out when he saw a few tennis balls and rackets in the back of someone’s pickup truck, which is a pretty rare sight here in Peru. Knowing that tennis would be a good conversation starter, we decided to knock the door of the house with the pickup truck. n older guy answered, and was about to shut the door on us until my comp asked him if he played tennis. His ears were then opened, and Elder Morgan and the guy started to hit it off talking about tennis. Long story short, this old guy named Luis invited us to go play tennis with him and his son (also named Luis) at their country club. This country club was pretty sweet, and it was fun to watch my comp tear it up on the tennis courts. Also, while they were waiting their turn to play, I was able to teach Luis Jr. a little about what we believe and about the Book of Mormon. He was actually really interested, and had a lot of great questions. He is a super intelligent guy. So, you never know how you’re going to find your next investigator! Always need to be creative on how you find people.

Tuesday morning we made it out to a little town “La Union”, which is about an hour south of Piura, to visit one of the other district meetings in our zone. It was fun to go out there to support the other district and be with those guys. We also brought them some tasty brownies that we made with love in our little microwave. They weren’t too bad considering the lack of cooking resources we had. :)

Tuesday afternoon we had quite the lesson with a family that we are teaching named the Gallo family. Right now we are teaching the four kids of the family, whose ages range from 17 to 11. They are really smart kids and active in their baptist congregation. We had had some really great lessons in the past with them, and they were becoming more and more interested each times we came by. However, this time around we could tell something was up. The kids weren’t focused as normal, and didn’t really seem interested in what we had to teach them. When we asked them what was up, they all started dumping anti-mormon questions on us, interrogating us for the answers to the questions that apparently their pastor of their church gave them. It made me sad to see that these pure, open-hearted kids were made corrupt by some pastor who had no other motive than to bash on our church. We were able to answer all their questions in a really great way, and the spirit was definitely there as we testified that what we had taught them was true. As we were explaining, I had one teaching from my parents come into my mind and felt impressed to share with those confused kids. A few years ago, I remember having a few question about the church, Joseph Smith, and a few other topics. After conversing with my parents, they gave me this advice that has always stuck with me: “While it’s ok to have questions about the church, and to look for answers from other people and sources, ALWAYS make sure that you are giving the Lord equal time.” If we are listening to the voices of the world and what they have to say, we must always give the Lord equal time by studying His word, praying to know His will, and listening to His chosen servants. As Pres. Oaks reminded us in this last conference, “When we seek the truth about religion, we should use spiritual methods appropriate for that search.” If we are going to listen to what critics say about the Book of Mormon, we should be giving at least the same amount of time with our nose in the book to see what we feel as we read its pages. If we are going to hear what the world has to say about Joseph Smith, we must listen at the same time to those who testify boldly of his prophetic mantel. If we are going to let questions and doubts linger in our mind all day, we should spend at least the same amount of time on our knees, looking for answers. When on a spiritual search, we must use spiritual methods, not solely secular. Thankfully, we were able to commit those 4 kids to start to give equal time by diligently reading the Book of Mormon and praying to find an answer from God about these things, not just their pastor.

On Wednesday I got to call my momma for her birthday! It was so great to see her and the rest of the family. I love you, Mom! I think it’s great that they are now encouraging us to talk with our families more openly and more often! I will gladly follow the prophet’s counsel. :)

Wednesday night we had our first English Connect class here in our ward, and it was a success! We had about 40 people show up for the English class, which consisted of a handful of investigators that were inside the church building for the first time. It was really fun to teach that class and provide a huge service to all those people in teaching to speak english the way us “gringos” do it. 

On Saturday we got our transfers! I’m going to be staying at least 6 semanas more here in La Pinos. My new companion is Elder Ospina from Columbia. It’s going to be great. I’m really going to miss my guy Elder Morgan though. We worked super hard together and made some good memories. #Noobscape Estoy animado por lo que viene! 

Lately I’ve been reading through the war chapters of the Book of Mormon. They are definitely some of my favorite parts in the whole book. There is really so much we can learn from those chapters! Just wanted to share this scripture with y’all:

But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility.  - Alma 62:41 

It’s interesting to me how some choose to become hardened and some choose to be softened and humbled, even though they all passed through the same trials. Our trials and afflictions are the constant in life, and how we react is the variable! Let’s all choose to be humbled by our trials, not hardened. 

Avanza Su Verdad!

Elder Bailey