Count your many blessings

I forgot to write about Socaiable last week. Thank you for your prayers, they were felt! It went well and everyone said they loved it! We all felt it went well. I had been able to serve in Carthage that Sunday too. It made for a good day. The end of Sociable was a welcome event at least for me. It was a really good experience and was a unique opportunity. The Socaiable was a chance for all twenty of the Sisters to teach a group of people all together. To combine our testimonies into a heartfelt program that taught and testified to a group of people that was larger than any we will ever teach again. Everyone did a fabulous job.
Today has been crazy. It's been good, but I have just felt rushed. Rushed is never how a p-day should go. If you feel whirlwinded by the end of p-day there's no catching your breath for the rest of the week. We are going to be able to attend the temple after writing this e-mail and that should help. I need to think. There is no better place to do thinking than in the temple. What a blessing it is to have one so close by. This morning we went to the Howards for breakfast. The Howards are temple missionaries that dote upon the sisters. They feed us and feed us healthy food. They are a blessing in this mission. They had us over, fed us a healthy breakfast and made us feel like missionaries. We were even able to teach a short lesson before we left. It was the bright spot in my day. Thank Goodness for the Howards. They are a couple that never stops giving. They gave us a scrubby for our dishes, brought out a massage thing from Brookstone for my companion as soon as she mentioned her back hurt and declared the they wanted to make her a candle holder. They tried to give us a box of Raisin Bran but we declined. That couple would give us the clothes off their backs if we would let them. After a delightful morning we headed off to Walmart to get some things and then came home to write some rushed letters and have a short lunch. We watched the "Letters of Emma and Joseph" vignette at 1:30 and then went home to pick up the other Sisters for e-mailing. After this we are going to go to another vignette (King Follet) and then the temple and then rendezvous and then pageant greeting, back to rendezvous and then a late night because we're watching pageant. That will put us in bed around 11:45pm. And somewhere in between all that goes on before rendezvous I'm trying to get another letter in. Speaking of letters...As I gathered up all my things this morning I found the letters I had written everyone last week!!!! I never sent them!!!!!! If I hadn't been to disappointed I would have killed over laughing.
Okay, well, now that you've gotten a play by play of my entire day maybe I can write about less trivial matters, like giving and gratitude. I want to take this e-mail in a different direction than I usually take them. There are so many blessings here in this mission. I want to list some. I need to list some. I would invite each of us to stop and reflect on what the Lord has blessed us with. To literally, as the song directs, "Count [our] many blessings"

Sister Bailey and Sister Meyers at breakfast at the Howards' home

The spirit here is so strong. For anyone coming here to Nauvoo there is "Something different" about this place, "Something special". I know that something different is because the "Spirit of God, like a fire is burning" thrives here. My blessings...

The amazing Sisters I have the privilege of associating with.
All the senior couples.
The Temple, not only a place of refuge and peace, but a constant reminder of the sacrifices that have been made for each of us.
President and Sister Ludwig. Their love, care and spirits. And their closeness. I don't know of many missionaries that can walk to their Mission Presidents house if need be.
Carthage.
The people I serve with.
The people I meet.
The Howards.
The sunsets.
The countless teaching opportunities to the young the old, the lost and the found.
The love and support I receive from around the globe.
The best of both worlds.
The weather.
The new skills I never planned to acquire, especially on a mission.
A comfortable bed.
A nice house.
Being kept busy.
Pageant, as well as all the other shows.

This place is not what I had in mind when I filled out my mission papers. But it is what the Lord had in mind, and what the Lord has in store for us is always better that anything we could dream up ourselves. Come what may and love it. :)

I love all of you. Thank you for your letters. Thank you for your prayers.

Sister Bailey

Psalms 89:8-9