I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year :) My Christmas was awesome. It was so good to see the fam and talk to them. I love you guys! This whole week has been pretty eventful. We had a baptism!! There was a lot of opposition leading up to it, but everything went well. I definitely felt the hand of the Lord this week here in the land of Peru. I love the Lord!
On Tuesday we had a lesson with a man named Edgar. We found Edgar about 2 weeks ago. He’s 30 and lives with his wife and daughter. In all my time in the mission so far I have never found anyone with as many questions and doubts as Edgar. He seemed to know about every anti-Mormon claim that someone could find. It’s always tough to teach someone who already has doubts planted in their heart, but as we began to explain more clearly the story of the Restoration and of the First Vision, he began to be more and more intrigued. We could tell that he had felt something in his heart. We then asked him what he thought about our message, and he told us that it’s super interesting, and he would love to be able to believe in it, but he just can’t believe it at the moment. When I think of Edgar I think of the words of Alma in the powerful chapter 32 of Alma. “But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until you believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.” Edgar has the desire to believe, we just have to help him exercise that small particle of faith to believe on our words. I was able to share with Edgar some of my own personal experiences that I have had while growing my own testimony. I shared with him something my parents told me a few years back that I will never forget. I had a lot of questions about the church and my own testimony was weakening. I presented some of my questions to them and we had a long discussion about them. They then asked me a really penetrating question, “Are you giving the Lord equal time?” “Are you looking for answers in the scriptures and praying the same amount of time to God as you are feeding your doubts?” These questions really hit me hard. It was super clear that I was not doing those things and it became apparent to me that if I would not give God equal time in diligently studying the scriptures, praying, and doing the small things that he asks, he would never give me a solid testimony or any answers to my questions. So, when we have questions, doubts, or simply don’t have a testimony of these things, I would suggest to give equal time in all things to God. He has promised that if we look, we will find. It wasn’t until I began to read the Book of Mormon with an open heart that I was able to gain a strong testimony of the Church. The Book of Mormon has the power to change lives and to help answer the questions of life, and questions about the church also. I promise to anyone who is struggling with doubts, questions, or a weak testimony, that if you will give God equal time and diligently read the Book of Mormon with an open heart looking for an answer you will find one. Hopefully Edgar can find the faith to do these things.
On Thursday we went to Piura for Elder Huarcaya’s 5 week training. I was excited to have this training at the mission home because I know I would get to see Elder Randall :) He is doing really good and it was fun to hang out with him for most of the day. After the training, President Rasmussen told us he was going into Sullana that afternoon, and offered to take us back to Sullana in his car. So that was pretty fun. Way better than riding the bus ;)
Saturday was our Bautismo! Man, what a good day. However, not everything went as planned. Around 10:00am on Saturday, we got a call from Mercedes (our investigator that was getting baptized). She told us that there was a problem, and that she needed to talk to us right away. We got to her house, and we could tell she was pretty upset over something. She told us that after her baptismal interview the day before, her sister had shown her a video on Youtube that was totally against the church. She showed us the video, and we quickly assured her that everything in the video was either a lie, or a half-truth. We shared with her how much we cared for her and gave our testimonies of the gospel, and how it has changed our lives for the better. I told her that despite all her questions and doubts, that if she would put her faith in the things that she does know and go forward with her baptism, God would bless her for her act of faith. She was still pretty uneasy about her baptism, so we suggested to kneel down and have her ask God right there and then to see if this was the right thing for her. We all knelt, and Mercedes offered one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard. She explained how she just wanted to follow His will, and asked if this was the right path. After her prayer, we all stood up feeling the spirit a ton and with some tears in our eyes, asked how she felt. She just looked at us, smiled, and nodded her head. Ah, it was such a cool experience. I’m so grateful for the power of prayer and for the ability it has to overcome doubt. The baptism went really well, and the spirit was strong like always. It has been amazing to see the spiritual growth of Mercedes in just a little over a month. It has been a great testimony builder to me to see someone like her truly be converted to this gospel. The gospel is true!
Well, that was pretty much my week! I’m so grateful for this opportunity I have to share this gospel with everyone here in this part of the Lord’s vineyard. I can feel His influence in my life everyday out here. It’s really hard work, but it is all worth it when we can see someone like Mercedes enter the waters of baptism. There is no better feeling!
I hope you are all doing well! Also, thanks for all the birthday wishes! You guys are the best. Talk to you next week!
Elder Bailey
(Had to snag a pic for Elder Hunter #San Antonio #Saraaa)
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