Nauvoo

 I am in Nauvoo. We arrived yesterday just before sunset. We don't have our assignments yet. We don't have our companions yet. So really there's nothing much to write. It was fantastic to see all the Senior Missionaries.  The Fosters extended their mission! There are so many old faces and so many new ones. It's hot out and the trees are blooming way earlier than last year. Hay-fever is setting in quick!!! When we came into the Visitor's Center this morning and saw all the Senior couple Missionaries it felt so celestial. It was like we had all died and were reuniting. The spirit is so strong here. My temporary companion is Sister Wendel.

 

I love you all.

More next week.

 

Last Days.

This will be the last time I write from Liberty Lake. I will miss this place too much. I love this place. It’s such a piece of me.

 

     This week we started teaching a new person this week. It was a perfect way to end my time here. She is 78. Her name is Loretta Yarrish. She is awesome. We found her tracting. She said that she had met with missionaries before and that we were welcome to come back but that we weren’t going to convince her of anything. --- the thing about missionaries is that we don’t really convince people of anything. Ever. We just teach. People convince themselves. At any rate, we’ve tried to meet with her for the past 3 weeks and something always has gotten in the way. First, her grandson had swine flu, then she had swine flu, then her family was in town for spring break. We half expected to have to reschedule again. We got there, she let us in, we taught a lesson, it was fantastic. That was on Tuesday. The spirit was so strong. Everything went perfectly. She would teach principles before we got to them. She brought everything we taught back to previous principle we had touched on. She committed to read and pray. At the end of the lesson she only wanted to know where our church building was. When we told her she said, “I thought so. Every time I drive by there I think about how nice it would be to go there someday and attend a service. I was going to walk up and catch one this summer. The walk would be nice. When Sister Salisbury and I left neither of us talked, we just smiled. We wanted to keep that spirit with us for the rest of the day. It was so cool. We set up another appt. for Thursday. We planned on setting a date for Loretta so that we could put her on date next week. When we went into the lesson and followed up on the commitment she responded that yes, she had read and she hadn’t “stopped at 12 or 13 or 14…” She just kept going. She said that she loved the Book of Mormon, that she wanted to read the whole thing and that she knew it was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We told her we were thrilled she received an answer and asked her what she thought that meant. She said that it meant that there were men on this earth who hold the priesthood and that there is a prophet of God on the earth. It only seemed right to invite her to be baptized. So we extended the invitation. She responded with a smiling, “Yes” and then we extended the date. She said still smiling, “That sounds great”. May 8^th! She is going to be baptized on May 8^th!!! It was Awesome. We taught her the plan of Salvation and she loved it. We got to death and she said she couldn’t wait to hear the rest of it. She had to take her grandson home to Idaho on Sunday so she couldn’t come to church but she will definitely come next week! On Saturday we went over to her house with Bishop Reed so she could meet him. That went great. We’re teaching her again on Tuesday! I’m so excited. I’m so glad there is something happening. There are so many things happening!!!! We received two solid referrals from members yesterday!!!! It was awesome. The members' view of missionaries have changed so much.

     I went on splits with Chelsea Rutter on Friday. She was just baptized in the beginning of the year. We stopped by an old friend. He use to date one of our less actives and we’ve been trying to teach him for a long time now. It was really spiritual. We have a lesson set up for Tuesday. He said that we needed to “Talk” because he’s been doing a lot of thinking. He wants to come back to church. He wants to stay close to the people he’s met there. The spirit was so strong. I’m so looking forward to having him be my last lesson in Liberty Lake.

     We taught our friend about prayer, scripture study, following the prophet, and obedience (not necessarily in that order). It went well. We taught the lesson in the home of one of our ward missionaries, Sister Smith. It went well and was extra cool because her husband sat in on the lesson too. She told us that he has really been struggling with his testimony. We committed her to read and pray everyday and to listen to more of conference (she did watch some of it). It was cool because he committed also.

     We taught our other friend the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She loved it. She loves everything we teach.  She is trying so hard to quit smoking. We gave her a “Preach my Gospel” book on Sunday and she loved it. I told her that when I see her in Rexburg she will be smoke free. She smiled and said “We’ll see” and I said, "No, you will be smoke free I know it."  I love her.  I will be praying so hard on the plane on Wednesday when the sisters are teaching her.

     Fred did not watch conference. He watched the young women’s conference. I think he liked it. We were able to teach him about the restoration. It went really well. He said he would read and pray and for the first time he alluded to possibly joining the church rather than just sitting down and talking. It was awesome.

     We met with Brian (the Catholic one) this week and found out his last name. Sattler. So the lesson with Brian Sattler went really well. We brought another member who use to be Catholic. She was fantastic! She really understands the importance of having the spirit there. It was a much more peaceful lesson. We taught him about the Godhead and about Joseph Smith. We left him with Tad R. Callister’s talk from the last October conference entitled, “Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration.” The sisters are seeing him again this next Thursday. Part of me wishes I could find out what happens.

      We had dinner with the family that we are teaching now (the one we’ve gotten close to.) We went over on Thursday. Dad read! It was awesome. He thought that it was “ok” There were a number of things that stood out to him and then there were things that were “not his cup of tea”. After reading the talk he felt like he should express his love to his kids on a more regular and more meaningful basis. We encouraged him to do so. We also had a really good Q&A session about the scriptures with the son. It was awesome. We taught them again on Sunday in a more formal lesson setting.  Dad sat in. again. J He may have been pretty zoned out for some of it, but I’m glad he sits in.  It went much better than the last lesson. It was much more put together and flowed much nicer. The boy who we’re teaching has a  brother who was able to ask some questions that had been on his mind for a while. The family did read 3Nephi 11 together but they forgot to pray about it. So this week they are reading 2Nephi 31 and praying about that. Dad is reading another talk from conference!  J Elder Ballard’s talk on fathers and sons from last October priesthood session of conference. He was suppose to have read it this morning at breakfast. I think he will really enjoy it. When Mom dropped me off she thanked me for “being the pushiest missionary her family has ever had”. We’re hoping to follow up on Dad’s reading before I leave.

     Sister Salisbury is still great. Sister Jeppson is also great. Being in a threesome with them has been great and the members LOVE having a tall sister. Liberty Lake is tall people country and so she fits in great. She has some awesome ideas for the area and is going to do a lot of good here. She’s related distantly to the Jeppsons in our ward.

     Yesterday was so hard. Church was good, but it was awful at the same time. Everyone was saying goodbye and it was ripping my heart out. I tried my best not to cry, but I did. All over the place.  Every time I went around a corner, got a hug or was bid farewell too. Every time I bore my testimony be it over the pulpit or to an individual. There was a lot of crying. It felt as thought I was dying. I’m glad that it’s over. It was a day I had to get through. It’s done. All that’s left to really hurtle is to pack. I think I will then finally be spiritually, emotionally and physically there. I love the gospel, I love God. I know that God loves his children. I know that He is perfect. I love Him.

 

Sister Bailey.

She's on the Move!

This is Anne's Mom posting.

Just wanted to let you know that Sister Bailey will be heading back to Nauvoo next Wednesday, April 14th.  Her address will change from her Spokane Valley address to the address below:

Sister Anne Bailey

P.O. Box 215

Nauvoo, Illinois 62354-0215

Thanks for all your letters that keep her uplifted and HAPPY!  We appreciate it so much.

You have been called to labor

     General conference was AWESOME this weekend!  I loved it. Just like all spiritual highs, I was not really ready for it to end, but I walked away with resolve to be better and with a stronger testimony than I had before. I can’t believe that was my last mission conference. For all those who missed it you can still watch it at LDS.org! My favorites were Elders Holland and Ballard and President Monson. I can’t wait to read Elder Oaks talk from priesthood! I hear it was great!

     We haven’t met with Deborah Velardi again. She’s dog sitting 5 mini poodles. We taught our friend the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Nebeker’s home. It went well, but was a little unconventional. We all reflected back on our baptisms. That was the main focus of the lesson. It felt more like a conversation than a lesson. I hope tonight goes differently. I want it to feel like a lesson. We’re teaching her about how to build a sure foundation, ie scripture study, prayer, and following the prophet. We’re teaching in another member’s home and have called and given her directions. We haven’t heard back from her yet, but usually with her no news it good news so we’re excited.

We again taught the family we had dinner with last week. It was just her. The lesson was supposed to be on temples. The kids were a little crazy. She was a little disengaged. Sister Salisbury tried to keep the kids quiet and I tried to teach a lesson to a wall. I finally stopped the lesson and asked her what was wrong. I explained to her the I had noticed a difference in our meetings. She talked about not knowing where she was or what she wanted to do and said she didn’t want to tell us because we’d tell her to read and pray and fast etc. We talked about the reason we tell her to do those things is because they work. Because that is how we find our answers and how we gain direction and understand God’s will for us. We bore testimony of it and then talked about how if she really wanted to know she would pray and read and fast. She acknowledged that yes, if she wanted to know she would do all those things. So I asked her why she didn’t want to know. She said that she is scared of the commitment that would follow. I feel like she knows it’s true, but that she doesn’t want to pray because she KNOWS that God would give her an answer. She scared of three hours of church; she’s scared of the lifestyle changes. I wish I could show her the temple and help her feel eternity, help her want an answer, and help her have the desire to actually put forth the effort. For three hours of church we are promised peace in our homes and overall happier lives, not to mention a fullness of joy in the life to come after we have done all that we can do.  I want to give her my testimony. It is my testimony that makes it forever impossible for me to look at Our Savior or even kneel in prayer and tell Him and our Father in Heaven that it is “just too hard”. Nothing is too hard. The Savior died to make it that way. He did what He did so that we CAN do what He asks. It is not too hard. I wish I could accurately show her that. I wish I could help her feel that, the easiness of the yoke, and the lightness of the burden. The way maybe straight, and narrow, but it is smooth and light.

     We taught our other friend the second half f the plan of salvation. She loved it just as much as the first and, like most people, wanted us to place her in a kingdom. It gave us opportunity to bear testimony of the Savior and His role in the plan and to incorporate her reading into the lesson. She had read Alma 7 and really enjoyed it. We forgot to follow up on her commitment from dinner and will have to follow up on it this week. She’s awesome. She hadn’t smoked a cigarette yet that day before we came over. Which was awesome because we talked to her about quitting when we invited her to take he lessons and she said she wanted too, but that she wasn’t ready yet. We didn’t meet with her until 1 o'clock either so it was a big step for her not to have ANY before we came over. I love her. She is so headed for heaven. When she talked about “lookin’ at the terrestrial kingdom” the thought that came to my head was, “it is better to be a mile from hell and headed towards heaven than a mile from heaven headed towards hell”. I don’t know about being a mile from hell, but I know she is headed for heaven. I’m glad I have had the opportunity to walk a bit of that road with her.

So many people were supposed to watch conference this weekend. We can’t wait to see who did! It was so good!

     We finally taught a family this week that we’ve grown very close too. They are cobbles together with all sorts and forms of membership and activation. We are officially teaching the lessons to two of them but all of them sat in! It was an odd lesson. I felt like I struggled to teach. I think Sister Salisbury felt the same. It was actually kind of hard to have everyone there, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. We just need to find a different angle to take than we did last night.  We’re going to eat dinner with them on Thursday. Where we will follow up on the dad’s commitment, which was separate from the rest of the family. The rest of the family is reading and praying about 3Nephi11. We finally got him to read Elder Bednar’s “More diligent and concerned at home” talk from last October conference. He is not a member. In fact he has grown up all his life as an atheist. He lives the gospel already, he just doesn’t believe in God. He mentioned that he has been surprised at our efforts to teach and to testify to him. He says that no other missionaries have really ever tried. I don’t think he was mad, but I do think he was surprised. His wife bore her testimony to us (with him in the room) of the gospel and how much she wishes he was a member. But that she’s okay because he loves her and her kids more than the two members of the church she was previously married to. She was thrilled to find out he was going to read. I am thrilled he is going to read!@ He’s the best!

     I’m going to miss all these people so much. I love them. And I mean everyone in Liberty Lake. Even the people who are mean and horrible to the missionaries. I love them. Again, it’s weird to be leaving.

    I know this gospel is true. I also know that the Lord is mindful of his children. This was reiterated to me this morning when Sister Salisbury, the elders, and I went to breakfast at the Howard’s. They live in the Evergreen ward and I served with them in Nauvoo. I haven’t seen them since I left Nauvoo. My heart almost burst from my chest when I saw them. I ran to meet them and was overcome with joy through out the entire ordeal. It was such a blessing. I was so happy. I love them. There was laughing and crying and pictures and reminiscing. It was so nice of the Elders (Elder Snyder and Elder Freckleton) and Sister Salisbury to come with me. I had to look out the window and remind myself that I wasn’t in Nauvoo, that I was in Washington. It really was the first time that I felt a rush of peace and joy come over me about leaving. The Lord knows us. He knows what we need, when we need it, and where he needs us, when he needs us there. It would not have been right to stay in Nauvoo these past six months and it would not be right to stay here for the next six months. My heart is still heavy and it is all still weird, but that ever humming peace that comes from the spirit is finally my horse again. I will ride it out with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face. I am grateful to the Lord that He has let me serve here all this time. I am grateful for all that I have learned and for the opportunities I have had to become better than I was and am. I am grateful for the hand of the Lord in my life and I am grateful for all of you who support me on a day to day basis. Especially those who support me so much with out really understanding my reasons for being here or what exactly it is I do while I am here and why I love it so much. I and mindful of you always and your support means more than you will ever know.

God be with you til wee meet again.

 

Sister Bailey.

General Conference

Our friend is back in town. We’re teaching her tonight and we will be teaching her the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Nebeker’s home. We’re looking forward to seeing her. It’s kind of a mini miracle too. She hasn’t been feeling well. At all. We were praying so hard to be able to meet with her. And when we called last night she said the she was feeling much better and that she was looking forward to the lesson tonight!! I have such a testimony of prayer. I know Heavenly Father Loves and hears His Children and that when we align our wills with His MIRACLES happen.

One of our favorite families fed us this past week. We were planning on teaching a lesson but she  had to go because she made plans with her mom for the night.  So, at the end of dinner it was just us, the kids and Dad while she ran around trying to get ready to go. It worked out really well though, We got to talk to him more about reading  his patriarchal blessing and about his testimony and history with the church. It was a real eye opener. We talked about him taking the lessons and talked about the effort that would need to be put forth. No other church really feels right to him, but he feels like the church asks a lot of people. (It does. It asks for our whole selves. Christ gave His whole Self for us, why should we expect to give Him any less?) So we committed him to read his blessing again, this time starting with a prayer and a question. He said he would. We’re seeing them again this week.

We taught  the less active we started teaching last week again. We taught her the first half of the plan of salvation. She loved it and was disappointed when we had to leave, but after we talked about it a little she was completely on board. Her reading of Ether 12 went perfectly. She did it and said that it was a really spiritual experience for her and that Heavenly Father DID answer her question. She talked about the doubts she had and how they were completely blown away when she read. We also went to dinner with her and the girl we wanted her to meet on Saturday to Palenques. We all had a lot of fun. When the food came they brought me the wrong dish so the guy let me keep the dish and then brought out the one I ordered too! I have a lot of leftovers. I’m not complaining though. It’s good food.  We talked about Alma 30 when Korihor is brought before the Chief judge for “Destroying the people’s happiness”. Korihor asks for a sign that God exists. Demands one actually. Alma bears a beautiful testimony of God’s existence, that “All things denote that there is a God”. Korihor does receive his sign; he is struck dumb and then confesses that he always knew there was a God and that he was doing the devil’s work among men. He is cast out and run down by the next group of people he meets. His story stands as an example and a testimony that the Devil will not support his servants.  Both girls committed to take 30 minutes out of their day to sit and recognize the “signs” that God has given us as a reminder of His existence and love. I think I am going to do it too. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.

We taught the woman who has been coming to church for the past two months last week! It went great. We talked to her about baptism and the spirit was really strong. We also talk to her about switching wards and she seemed really nervous about it but on Sunday she was telling everyone about it and how she’ll eventually switch over and how her son went to church with her neighbor so he could start off going to the right ward. IT was awesome. She just needed sometime to sit on. She seemed all for it. We told her that if she felt more comfortable with sisters that we could keep on teaching her.

We’re also going to start teaching a family that we absolutely love. They have every kind of person you could thing of in that family. Some one who use to be a member, someone who is active in the church, someone who is less active in the church, someone who wants to be a member, but has something holding them back and someone who is not a member and not interested in being one. (at this point.) We have gotten so close to them while we’ve been here and can’t wait to teach them! I’m so sad I’ll only be able to teach two lessons.

The new guy we met last week is facing some really difficult trials in his life. We prayed with him this past week and we’re hoping to teach him this week. He really is so prepared. I love him. He’s one of the kindest people I’ve met.

On the other hand we met a man this week and taught him. He’s the most arrogant person I have ever met. I wonder how long we will teach him for and sometimes how wise it even is to keep him very long. There is a weird feeling there when we meet with him.

We met up with a less active who is hard to get a hold of this week and asked him how his reading of the Book of Mormon went. He said he loved it and that he’s now reading a chapter a night. The light in his eyes told me he was telling the truth. It’s little moments like that that make this work so sweet. I know this gospel is true and that the priesthood has been restored to the earth and that if anyone is wanting a stronger relationship with their Father in Heaven, all they have to do is ask and then seek for it. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know it with all of my heart.

We are so looking forward to General Conference this weekend. Don’t miss it!

I love this work. I love you all.

 

Sister Bailey.

Alma 30:40-41? (Korihor)