Our p-day was changed from Monday to Friday due to the mission presidents seminar we hosted. So the e-mail for this week is rather late. A lot has happened. About three quarters of the way through September 7th I began to feel awful. It was a steep down hill from there and today is my first real day of feeling better. I served until Wednesday when Sister Ludwig found me at the Visitors Center. To my raspy "Hello Sister Ludwig" her face quickly dropped and said, "Are you getting sick?". My stomach dropped and after some very short and pointless protests she had me in the car and headed back home. I have to admit, in high school getting sick was like getting an unexpected holiday. I much preferred my warm bed to a cold dull classroom any day, even if I felt as though my head would fall off. Then I went to college. Getting sick at college is no fun. There is no mother to care for you, you feel crummy, your roommates avoid you like the plague for fear they will get sick, and if you miss classes it means a lot of catching up to do before you begin to feel well again. I never thought getting sick could feel any worse, but alas, I can assure you that getting sick on a mission is worse. Getting sick means you can't serve until you feel in tip top shape again and everyone wants to help you feel better. I have been in and out of serving since Wednesday, but I am back on my feet and ready to go! I can only imagine how getting sick must feel as a mother. Yuck. I was able to serve the mission presidents, their wives, Elder and Sister Perry (Yes, Elder Perry, an Apostle of God) and all the other General Authorities. It was an amazing weekend. I loved it! The weirdest thought was that some of these mission presidents were some of the Nauvoo Sisters future mission presidents. We had no idea who they were, but there knew who we were. It was fun. The thing that really put the icing on the cake was when we sang "Called to Serve" for all who were in attendance. It was the last time we would all sing together as Sisters. Sister Brinkerhoff and Sister Stagg are leaving next Thursday. The spirit was so strong. We were able to sing a rendition of the song that was arranged by a Nauvoo Sister that served here last year. It really does those sweet, quiet, really joyful moments on a mission justice. Elder Perry stopped all of us as we started to exit the room and made sure that we received a standing ovation. He then asked who had had their companionship study the previous day. We all raised our hands and laughed as he let us all leave.
Today has been absolutely fabulous! How could it not be? We got up, exercised, went to the Temple and now are writing to our loved ones! The Temple was so good today. I love it there. It will be hard not to have it so available when I leave this place. I was reading Alma Chapter 8 today while I was at the Temple. This is the chapter in which he meets Amulek. I love Amulek. I also love the example that Alma is to me as a servant of the Lord. In verse 14 it describes Alma as he travels away from a city that he has just been essentially kicked out of because he was preaching the Gospel. The people there were offended by truth and saw that he was removed. Alma is "weighed down with much sorrow", not for his own persecutions, but because the people had rejected the Gospel. Alma wanted nothing more for those people than to feel the joy the Gospel brings. In verse 14 the Lord commands Alma to turn around, go back to where he just came from, back to a place where he was just spit on, yelled at, and cast out, and preach the Gospel again. Alma's response? "He returned speedily to the land" of those people that had cast him out to do the will of the Lord. Not only did he return, but he did it "speedily". I can only hope that I will be as quick to hearken to the counsel of the Lord.
For the rest of the day I am going to write my mission president, go out to lunch with the other p-day Sisters (I have been out for 6 months today), run some errands, and write letters. I have A LOT to write. Thank you so much for the sometimes overwhelming amount of support you all extend to me. <333
Sister Bailey
Suggested reading : Mosiah18
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