It is almost Christmas time and Liberty Lake is warm. Very warm. The mid to upper forties! Sister Bruner and I still find ourselves bundling up though because layers mean that we stay dryer longer. And dryer equals warmer. We are both VERY grateful for the packages we’ve received from our families. Christmas time is a wonderful time of year. Everyone wants to give. I hope that in all our giving we can remember what the birth of that little babe in those humble beginnings meant for each of us. It was the first day of the rest of eternity. He truly lived up to His potential so that we could live up to ours. Let it not go to waste.
Eric is still amazing but no longer can be considered an investigator. He is now a full-blown member and is attending some of our lessons with other investigators to help us teach! And he is absolutely elated about it! Sam is struggling a bit as his baptismal date approaches. We don’t want to rush it. If he doesn’t get baptized here I believe he will in Louisiana. He just needs more time. I have had a lot of peace about it. I don’t know what will happen, but we’ve been fasting and praying about him and with him and I have peace about the situation. That so typifies of the gospel in general. It doesn’t fix problems, it doesn’t promise that things will turn out the way them seem they should, but there is peace. A peace you can find nowhere else and a peace that lingers. It will stay with you as long as you let it.
We gave up one of our investigators to the Elders in the other ward because that’s where she lives. She’s amazing. It was very hard. I hope to see her all in white before I leave. The members are still amazing and Sister Bruner and I are on the edge of a lot of stellar investigators. We just have to get in and teach! We love it here. A member brought us a fruit basket the other night and it was a total Godsend!!! We almost never get fresh fruits and veggies.
Things are continually looking up for Sister Bruner and I.
OH yeah! Something really exciting happened and I totally forgot to write about it last preparation day! I don’t remember it all that well so it wont be as good, but it will still be worth it. Basically, wolves almost ate my district leader. It was dark (which means it could have been anywhere from 4:00pm to 9:00pm because it gets dark that early here) and Elder Bertoch and Elder Howell had to walk to a member’s home for an appointment…or to drop something off I can’t remember. They don’t have a car so they decided to take the short cut and walk through the wheat field by their house to get to the development on the other side. They kept hearing noises and the noises kept getting closer, but they had no lights so all they could see was the wheat in front of their faces. They said the noises sounded like a hurt animal. This gave them the willies and they stopped to look around. Elder Bertoch said he saw three sets of glowing amber eyes not too far off in the distance, kind of up on a hill. When he asked Elder Howell if he saw them he said no and they kept walking. As they reached the end of the field Elder Bertoch said he got the distinct impression that something was watching them and looked over his shoulder just to calm his nerves. This time, “about a stone’s throw away”, He saw those Amber eyes moving through the wheat but this time the eyes were connected to big black figures in the wheat. He told Elder Howell to turn around and whispered, “You see those right?” Elder Howell responded quickly with, “of course I do!” and at the same time the figures stopped moving. The elders than made a plan. One faced the fence and one faced the creatures in the dark and they shuffled back to back over to the fence. Once they had it unlocked and opened they took off for the road. They re-told this story to the member once arriving safely at their house and she and her husband just said “Yeah, they were probably wolves”.
So there you have it. My District leader and his companion were almost eaten by wolves in a wheat field in the middle of the dark. It was pretty exciting. He told us on my birthday and it was awesome! He called us later that week to tell us that on the way home one night they decided to avoid the field due to their previous experience and take the (still dark) service road. As they approached it they heard the distinct call of a wolf coming from somewhere up the road. They prayed and one of the members randomly drove by and picked them up. God loves His missionaries.
I love all of you. I will be thinking of you a lot as Sister Bruner and I visit families on Christmas and share the Christmas story with them. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year! Thank you for your love and support. If I haven’t written you back yet know that I will. Things are just crazy.
Sister Bailey
Mormon 9:27
Give Him your whole heart this year.
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