Liberty Lake and Mica Peak

Sister Bruner and I cover two wards. Two HUGE wards. Both are wonderful. The Elders didn't leave us much to go on. In some ways it feels like we are opening a new area! We have been meeting with all the members in the ward, particularly the auxiliaries, and between chopping wood and walking around for 6 hours in the freezing rain the ward members seem to be very impressed with us which we are hoping implies trusting relationships. They all seem to have at least one person, if not two or three people, in mind for us to teach or visit! The wards have been awesome. Through our own efforts we've found 2 people, Zach and Deseree (sp?) who we have set up appointments with this week. Then have a slew of other people the elders from our district found on a blitz we did on Saturday. A blitz means the whole district came out and tracted our area with us so there were ten to twelve missionaries finding people instead of just two. All in all, I think things are really moving forward. This next week is going to be so exciting.
Love Sister Bruner. She is so up-beat and bubbly --- and small! She's a whopping 90 pounds or something like that. It has been so good to get to know her and learn from her when it comes to working with wards/bishops/ward mission leaders as well as opening an area, which for me seems like an insurmountable task on my own. Luckily, this is not something I need to or should do on my own. I have Sister Bruner and the Lord. This is His work. He wants us to do it. He wants us to do it together. I am so excited and have been so in awe to see how He will get the ball rolling.
Strangely enough it reminds me of "Building" a family. What an insurmountable task. To be charged with raising one of the Lord's spirit children. What faith the Lord exercises in letting us give it a try!! Thank goodness we are not expected to do it on our own. We have our spouse and we have the Lord who, if we let Him, will be there through the whole thing.

Suggested reading: The Family, A proclamation to the world

A copy can be acquired at lds.org

Sister Bailey
You are in my thoughts and prayers

Shot to the heart

I have only been in the field for a week and a half and it already feels like my heart has been ripped out. We had transfer calls last night. I have been transferred to "Liberty Lake". I'm excited, but I had no idea how torn I would be. I am in love with Moscow. I am in love with the people I'm teaching. I know in my heart I will probably never see them again. We have been teaching Ramundo English and, in order to do so, I have been learning Spanish. I can now bare my testimony in Spanish and let everyone know that I can speak "broken Spanish". Enough to communicate. Sister Jurado is also transferring out of the area and Sister Brown is staying here. We are going out to lunch with Ramundo to say goodbye, which is, in part, why this e-mail is so short. We want to be on time. I will miss this place so much. The doctrine of eternal families and eternal life are joyous ones. I know I may never see these people again in this life, but what a reunion will take place in the life to come! And we'll be able to fully communicate to each other. :)
To my understanding my new companion, Sister Bruner, and I will be opening Liberty Lake. That means missionaries (at least Sisters) have not been in the area for a long time. We get to start from scratch. What a way to hit the ground --- running. Sister Bruner is five nothing and 80 lbs!!! Tiny! I met her at a Mission Meeting on Saturday when the whole mission met in Spokane to listen and talk with Elder Bednar. It was a very neat experience.

I love this Gospel. I know it to be true. I love this work!!! and I love all of you. You are in my thoughts and prayers. <333

Sister Bailey

Greetings from Moscow

YES. Moscow. Actually it's pronounced Moss-Coh. I am in the south of the pan handle of Idaho. It's cold. I came at an odd time with only one week left in the transfer so who knows where I'll be next week. I love all the missionaries I have met and we have become fast friends. And yes mom, my mission president (President Palmer) does have a new Zealand accent. It's fun. When I arrived I spent the night at President Palmer's house. It was the best night sleep I've gotten in my life. At 7am I had a short interview with them and then he sent me off to Moscow.
The past 4 days have been crazy good. My new companions are Sister Jurado (Sister Hurado) and Sister Brown. They are really good missionaries. They have been such a blessing. We are teaching a lot. I'm serving in the married student wards of Idaho University. We cover three wards. We teach everyone, but we work with the members of those specific wards. It's an interesting set up and hard to explain. I met the Bishops, relief society presidents, and ward mission leaders of every ward on Sunday. We bike. When I first got here all we did was bike, but now we have a mini-van and share it with the singles ward Sisters so we bike every other day. Probably the coolest thing ever, right now, are all the Spanish lessons we've been teaching. Sister Jurado speaks Spanish fluently and so we've been teaching a lot of lessons in Spanish. We all still teach. She translates what she can and the Spirit does the rest! It is so cool to both feel and see how the Spirit can transcend any barrier that might lie in it's way.
Elder Bednar (an apostle of the Lord) is coming to talk to us on Saturday. We are all really stoked. What a great way to start out my six months here. On the other hand, I just got an e-mail from the Henricksons from Nauvoo. All the Sisters leave Nauvoo and the PROPHET of God shows up. Yes. Thomas S. Monson is in Nauvoo right now and I am sitting at a computer at the institute building in Moscow, Idaho. It's a good thing I have been sent here by the Lord with a work to do and the most important massage in the world to share with people. Otherwise I might be a little put out.
I called the Nauvoo visitor's center today to get my driving information faxed over here to the mission office. It was the weirdest thing to talk to the Senior missionaries on the phone. It was like calling my friends. I love them and miss them so much, as I do all of you.
That's all right now. I love you. Sorry for how short this e-mail is. I'm still kind of star struck by it all. My head is swimming.

Sister Bailey

Last e-mail from Nauvoo

I expect this letter to be a short one. There is too much to do and too little time. But what an amazing opportunity we had this weekend to hear a Prophet of God and the Apostles! I can't believe I forgot to tell everyone about it in my last letter! If anyone would like to listen to all the amazing things declared and directed for our benefit visit LDS.org and find the links that lead to "General Conference". Sometimes, as missionaries, you only take life one day at a time. I didn't realize conference was here until it was here and even then we were serving in between the moments we were able to watch. I am so excited to get the conference edition of the Ensign! What a wonderful day to live in...when the words of a prophet are delivered to you door step once a month. Susan Easton Black was here this weekend in Nauvoo as well. It was such a treat to be able to spend time with her and to ask her questions and the hear her testimony of the early saints and of the divinity of Joseph Smith and his calling. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God. The the fullness of the gospel has been restored and that we can chose eternal life and happiness by the merits of Jesus Christ and His atonement or to choose eternal misery and death according to the power and captivity of the devil. Elder Jeffery R Holland bore testimony that the Savior warned "that in the last days, mens' hearts shall fail them". And surely it will happen, but it is our choice, Brothers and Sisters, if we are contributors to the fulfillment of that prophecy. Will our hearts fail? Or have we built our foundation upon that foundation that if men build they cannot fall?
I would also like to express my love and gratitude to all you have been such a strength and support while I have been out here. Your letters are appreciated and you prayers are felt. When ever I cannot stand on my own I can feel angels round about me to bear me up. I know that I have not earned those angels by my own merit. Thank you for your love, prayers, support and concern. I love you so much and I think of you all often.

Sister Bailey

Alma 5

Washington Spokane Mission
820 S. Pines Rd Ste 101
Spokane Valley, WA 99206-5420

Pride has reared It's Ugly Head

 I am having trouble writing this week because quite frankly I just e-mailed you the most exciting news I've gotten already. Washington Spokane Mission.  As soon as I get a new address I'll pass it along, but find comfort in knowing that if you send a letter here to Nauvoo it will get forwarded. I don't know if you guys remember me talking --- er --- writing about the Howards. They are "the most giving people I've ever met in my entire life". That's usually how I describe them anyway. They are from SPOKANE! They were crying when they found out where I was going. They offered to take a box to Spokane for me because they'll be leaving about the same time we are. They said that they know exactly where the mission office is and would be able to drop it off. I told them that that would be great, the only problem is that in 6 months I'll have to be able to make it back to Nauvoo with the same amount of stuff.
       Sister Lukens and I have been studying humility. It has been really neat. I want to share what it says about humility in "True to the Faith". Just the first paragraph. "True to the Faith" is a study resource that I have that has been put out by the Prophet of God and the Apostles that defines and describes words and concepts so that we can better understand them. The first paragraph concerning humility says, "To be humble is to recognize gratefully your dependence on the Lord --- to understand that you have a constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgement that your talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity or fear; it is an indication that you know where your true strength lies. You can be both humble and fearless. You can be both humble and courageous". I love it. The opposite of humility is pride. We read through the scriptures to help us better be able to identify pride in ourselves. We only got through three so far, but this is what we came up with. 1) If you do not flee from temptation and willingly put yourself in spiritually threatening situations, pride has reared it's ugly face 2)If you blame God for your shortcomings or for your hardship, pride has reared it's ugly face and  3) If you are offended by something or someone, check yourself for the following situations, a) if you are offended at something that is not true you are being over sensitive. Who cares if it's not true? or b) if you are offended by something that is true, something needs to change. Pride, has reared it's ugly head.
       So, the study continues. We still have some scripture references to go through, but that is what we've got so far. We can all be more humble. The struggle with pride will never be over. And just has you think it is, it's bit you on the ankle. For what humble man would sit and say to himself "I have conquered pride" with out an inkling of pride in his heart?
       In my most recent president's interview President asked me what my greatest fear for my new assignment was. I was completely candid and told him, "that I wont want to come back to Nauvoo". I love Nauvoo. I know with all my heart that this is where I need to be right now and that I was called here by God himself, but I have never felt comfortable here. I feel so much more prepared for the kind of work I will be doing in Washington. I know I am going to fall in love with the people. I generally fall pretty hard for people. I am going to get attached and just as I have to rip my heart away from Nauvoo, leaving little pieces of it behind, I will have to rip it away from Washington as well. It is going to hurt. President Ludwig responded, just as any God-inspired man would,  "Sister Bailey," he said in his love drenched tender tone of voice, "I know that you are scared that you wont want to come back, but I certainly hope that it happens that way. I know that Nauvoo has been hard, and maybe the outbound won't be as challenging for you as it is for others, but thank goodness the Lord let you do something that is just a little bit hard. I hope you hate leaving Washington. I hope you fall in love with the people. But we will be glad to have you back".
       I would rather be drug onto the plane kicking and screaming than plowing people over trying to be first. I know it will be the former. If I manage to leave Washington with out getting my heart ripped out, then my heart won't be right with the Lord. Here's to growing pains.
       I love each of you with every piece of me. Thank you for your support. I am being 100% serious when I say I can feel it.

Sister Bailey

D&C 128


Oh yeah! here's where everyone is going:
Sister Aston: Texas, Dallas
Sister Quick: Colorado Denver North
Sister Lukens: Colorado Colorado Springs
Sister ME: Washington Spokane
Sister Patterson: Tennessee, Nashville
Sister Barry: Washington, Keenewick (sp?)
Sister Reece: Texas, Fort Worth
Sister Picard: New Jersey, Morristown
Sister Goodrich: Georgia, Atlanta
Sister Parker: New Jersey, Cherryhill
Sister Westwood: Montana, Billings
Sister Johnson: Nevada, Las Vegas
Sister Morgan: Colorado, Denver South
Sister Thomas, Sister Alexander, Sister Meyer: All the the Iowa, Peoria Mission for 6 weeks and then they go home