The Least

Sister Salisbury is still great. She is still such a light! The wards are still loving her. We have high hopes for February. We are really excited about one of the new investigators that we found last week. She loves the gospel. She’s said yes to baptism twice already (we just have to get her a date to work towards), she’s praying everyday both morning and night, reading all her assignments, and she loves the Book o f Mormon and the gospel. She says it all makes so much sense. She has felt the spirit very strongly in her life and now that she knows how to identify what it is, she is very excited. She has a 5 year old boy. She is facing really hard things right now. It has become necessary for her to move and very quickly. She’s frantically searching for a new place. Her son is a cancer survivor and has his last check up to make sure he is still in remission. She has been so prepared to receive the gospel. We are hoping that she will move somewhere in the area but are ready to give her to what ever missionaries who will be teaching her if that is the case. We will miss her though! She has been so great.
We are still doing a lot of finding, tracting, contacting etc. I was actually just talking to my mission president’s wife about tracting. There is a little positive response, but I don’t think that we get a lot of baptisms from tracting, we get baptisms because of tracting. Meaning that when the Lord sees that we are really willing to work in order to find work, he will bless us and those we serve with. And besides, you meet some of the most interesting people! While tracting this week we ran into a woman who had no desire to listen to us at all. All I could think about as she turned us down was to offer service. Suddenly the words were spilling out of my mouth. She thought it was so sweet. We helped her daughter clean her room and then went back the next day to help her organize her pantry. She was so happy to see us. For now, she is a wonderful service opportunity and maybe in a year or so she will be a wonderful investigator. She’s the missionary’s new best friend.
I watched Eric Sande turn pink all through church on Sunday as he received compliment after compliment on his talk he gave. I loved it. I love missionary work. Sometimes it fills me up so much with joy I nearly have to nail my feet to the ground just to keep from hugging everyone in my reach; male, female, young, old; and telling them how wonderful the gospel is.
This past Sunday in church was fantastic! The spirit was so strong. It was on compassionate service. Brother Adkins’ (a member in the ward) talk really stuck with me. He centered his talk around the verse from the new testament where Christ talks about doing things “unto the least of these” and how when we serve “the least of these” we serve Him. He posed the question of, “Who is 'the least of these' ". He went on to talk about how each of us in this life take a turn being one of the least and shared a specific experience of his when he was “one of the least”. He bore his testimony of those who reached out to pull him up again and served with all their might and love in order to help him. He expressed the gratitude he has felt years later as he looks back for all those efforts that, at the time, may not have been appreciated. He taught that as we listen to the spirit and don’t suppress any generous thought, acting on all those things that “inviteth and inticeth to do good” that we can truly serve those who need us most, even when they may not think, or even we may not think they need it most. It made me reflect back on moments in my life when I have been the least, when I have taken my turn. It brought a smile to my face and a peace in my heart to remember all who labored on my behalf and all who ministered unto me in His place. I love you all. May God be with you.
Sister Bailey.