Monday, June 22, 2015

sister bread && sister buttars

6.22.15

HOWDY YA'LL!!

hahaha so the joke @ church yesterday was to see how many nicknames they could come up with for me to match sister buttars...i think i'm offically sister bread though. man...henryetta..they crack me up (;

this week was insane...as every transfer week is!! between saying goodbye, packing, cleaning, and preparing the area for a new companion it seems like we were constantly running around with our head cut off! but i love being super busy (: and i love henryetta!! i'll be honest, it took me a lil longer to love it here than my previous areas but the members here are amazing and i love them a lot, they're the sweetest and help us out with more than I realized when I first got here. I think the hardest was coming from the city in Bentonville to this tiny town with supposedly 5,000 people. Also coming from a ward that was 95% active to a ward that well...isn't as active! But hey, it's great because we have a lot of work to do (:

I love being back in the Tulsa East Zone because President Cluff is our stake President, he's the best (: He is all about rescuing the less actives and is so willing to help the missionaries strengthen the stake...it's great to be here!!

the work here in henryetta is picking up, slowly but surely. Sister Buttars and I had an awesome weekly planning session on friday and went through a lot of old records, reorganizing the area book, making phone calls, and setting up appointments with people I've never met here! Our focus is really on the less actives, but we have some good prospects with investigators! Something unique about henryetta is how many children of record we have (children over 8 who were blessed but never baptized) so we made plans to meet with some more of them and hopefully turn them into investigators, coming to church, teaching the lessons, and of course getting baptized and the ones that are over 12 going to the temple!! It'll be good, I'm super excited(: (:

The best part of the week was that the whole campbell family came to church yesterday, went to classes, stayed for all three hours, and Autumn (our 12 year old recent convert) got her temple recommend, so if all goes well we'll be able to go with her July 11!!! (: Can't wait!!

I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!

the other highlight of the week was, of course, TRANSFER DAY!! it was so long and I was soooo tired but it was a blast!! Mostly it's fun seeing all the mission friends, but also I got to chill with my girl Sister Petersen all day!! I love her...she's basically my real life sister @ this point <3

There was a big group of us up in Tulsa all day waiting for our new companions, all the sisters went to the mission home and cleaned and ate breakfast and hung out with the Shumways. Then we all headed over to the mission office to "help organize" with the Elders when really we all just hung out. It was a good time (; Plus hanging out with the Shumways for the last time...man...I'm going to miss them so much!!

Not to mention this is the last full week of the OKLAHOMA TULSA MISSION!! Next week we'll transition to the Arkansas Bentonville Mission and get our new mission president, President Loveland. From what we've heard he's awesome, so I'm excited to meet them (: (:

all in all, it was a good week! I'm excited to see what this transfer has in store! I'm so grateful to be here. I love being a missionary. Sometimes is really hard, but in the end it's all worth it. I'm grateful for all the amazing people I've met. I'm grateful for all my crazy companions that have all turned into best friends!!! Man...I'm the luckiest girl in the world!!

shoutout to my cutest sister Rachael!!! She's going through the temple this week and getting marriedon Saturday!!!! Forever wishing I could be there, just know I'll be there in spirit!!!! I love you Rachee2roo!!! I am so proud of you <3 <3 And I know our sweet momma is too (:

I LOVE YA'LL!!!

Sister Bailey



We found the beach ... in Henryetta?




Miss you Kitcheyyy



#classicSisterBailey

6.15.15

hayyyy everyone that i love dearly!!

it was a great week, of course. are ya'll surprised?!

first of all TRANSFER NEWS!!!!!!!

I am staying in wonderful Henryetta (; Sister Kitchen is going to be a Sister Training Leader in Bentonville with my Bff evil twin Sister Whittaker for her last transfer!! Ahhh that'll be unreal, they'll have so much fun together!! 

and the best newssssss I'M GETTING SISTER BUTTARSSSSSS!!!!! I am so so excited!! If you remember, I got to babysit Sister Buttars her very first day in the mission field, then again last transfer while her companion was at MLC in Bentonville. She's the cutest. She's from Pleasant Grove. She's 21. She went to SUU. Her eyes are different colors. She is so funny. THIS IS A DREAM COME TRUEEE! I'll send a picture of us that I took last transfers on my way to Henryetta (:

too good...

I don't have a ton to report on this week. Butttttt last Monday was the greatest...we had our zone outing in Muskogee. Some members there have a waterfall on their property. So our district wore our matching tie dye shirts we did the week before and the other district was so jelly haha but it was a blast. I love this zone! Everyone is soooo chill! We had a camp fire and ate hot dogs and played soccer and told crazy mission stories. It was wonderful EXCEPT when we got home I had FIVE TICKS ON ME!! ewww it was gross, but Sister kitchen is a good companion and pulled them out. Man...i hate these oklahoma bugs. I can't wait til I can run around on the grass without shoes (;

soo I decided instead of telling you about my regular missionary week I'm going to share some #classicSisterBailey moments...

one morning i was waiting to get in the shower so i was still in my pajamas which that night was leggings and my tie dye shirt and vans socks. the district leader called so i'm talking to him on the phone and my leg is up on the arm rest of my recliner so i look really weird and my hair is on top of my head...then i hear someone run up the stairs outside our apartment, which was weird because our neighbor, Sam, always leaves early in the morning...then the door knob starts twisting and I freeze and Elder Lindsay is still talking and then the door just opens and it's this really tall guy and I'm so scared and all i could get out of my mouth was "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." then he says "sorry! wrong room!" and closes the door and leaves. then sister kitchen runs over and slams the door and locks it. i'm just sitting there petrified. hahahaha but it was so funny because i couldn't even scream or get anything audible out of my mouth except for uhhhhhh. #classicSisterBailey

oh yeah...this week our phone blew up...it may or may not have been my fault...i may have left it in the sun for a few hours...it may have actually started sparking...we may have lost all of our contacts...we may have spend 2 hours at the sprint store....hahaha another #classicSisterBailey

we received the assignment to redo the young women bulletin board, which was way fun. we were at walmart buying stuff for it and i (because i always drop or knock over things) hit and dropped this huge bottle of glitter. it didn't break...but the floor was just so far away and bcuz of my back problems it's hard for me to bend down. so i put my hand out and stared really hard at the bottle hopping it would somehow come to my hand...i wish i had super powers? hahaha well Sister Kitchen looked over and noticed what I was doing and she fell over laughing in the middle of the aisle...it was the funniest thing...so i fell over and we just sat there in walmart laughing until we were crying...#classicSisterBailey

then yesterday we went over to the Decker's house for lunch (brother decker is the patriarch & sister decker is the yw president & we love them soooo much) and we were both so tired from the week. but the deckers are like our parents so we are our true selves when we got over there and we had a blast...i got brother decker laughing so hard...it was so entertaining. at one point we were talking about some things president shumway had said to us. Sister Kitchen was talking about how President grabbed her arms and shook her back and forth saying "you are so strong!" then i chuckled to myself and the deckers asked what I was laughing about and I say "should i tell them?" and Sister Kitchens like yeah...so i sit down on the ground in my dress and explain how it's so funny because every morning I laugh so hard bcuz Sister Kitchen is sooo NOT flexible. it's hilarious and she's really weak in the arms...like sometimes she collapses and I just die laughing. So I'm explaining this all to them and Sister Kitchen and I are just laughing so hard because of President. So I say "Sister Kitchen you are really spiritually strong....!!" hahaha we all died...man...#classicSisterBailey

there's so many more but those are a few for now...maybe i'll write one in each email for ya'll to enjoy....

hahaha welll enjoy these pictures!

i hope ya'll have a great week! I LOVE YOU!!!!


your favorite sister missionary,

SISTER BAILEY



Sister Buttars and I



Tuesday, June 9, 2015

a PINK eye single to the glory of God

June 8th

hey ya'll!!!

what a week...wow wow wowwwww. I am just so incredibly happy. This was like the ultimate missionary week....here's a quick run down:

Monday: district outing in Muskogee with the coolest district in the world

Tuesday: crazy busy in okmulgee and lots of OTMing

Wednesday: our last ZONE CONFERENCE with President Shumway up in Tulsa...best day everrr....also sister kitchen and i did a musical number...acapella... with solos? i don't really know...we both love to sing and we were terrified so the other week i texted sister shumway asking if we could sing at zone conference!! haha we practiced a lot and it ended up great! this transfer has been all about conquering fears. I JUST LOVE SISTER KITCHEN!! after we were like "did we really just do that?" then we high fived...it was awesome...

Thursday: weekly planning...at a mexican restaurant eating chips and salsa and guac and queso?

Friday: exchanges with my girllll Sister Wulfenstein up in okmulgee...we were super busy and went to a carnival in the evening for our finding hour...way too fun!!

Saturday: adult session of stake conference in broken arrow, seeing my favorites from tahlequah, crying and hugging them and catching up...it was AMAZING!! i walked into a room where they were indexing and they screamed "SISTER BAILEY!!!" it was a tender moment<3 then...SLEEPING OVER AT THE MISSION HOME<3<3 funnest night of my lifeeeeee

Sunday: waking up in the mission home and walking through it for the last time (they are moving out of it in like two weeks...crazy!) then stake conference at the broken arrow convention center and hearing so many good things from the people that spoke then seeing all my tahlequah family....it was basically a family reunionnnnn<3

ahhhhh see what i mean? best week ever. it was just so uplifting and fun. I love the Shumways, I love my companion, I love my missionary friends, I love the people in my areas, I LOVE THE LORD!!! (: (:

so...my subject line...hahahaha well....i woke up wednesday morning and my left eye wouldn't open...it was pretty horrendous...it was like glued shut and bright pink. yay for pink eye...well i got ready and we drove up with the eufuala elders and as the day went on my eye got worse and worse and it hurt!!! but i was at zone conf and it was amazing so i was just laughing about it and making stupid jokes. it was pretty entertaining. then at lunch sister shumway surveyed the situation and lets just say some phone calls were made and we hit up walgreens on the way home to pick up some much needed eye drops. hahaha my life...

favorite things from zone conference:

  • "When you are in the service of the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission you are only in the service of you God"
  • The area seventy, Elder Southward, said "I hope you have tribulation on your mission...but remember Christs words...be of good cheer for I have overcome the world"
  • D&c 84:88
  • Angels on our left and on our right to bear us up...<3 I know that is true (:
  • As President was talking the words "Constant he is and kind, love without end" came into my mind...that is President Shumway...so grateful for him!
  • Sister Shumway lead a discussion all about things we had all learned on our missions...one of my favorites was that the Atonement can change our nature<3 because it can...I am not the same Sister Bailey that started her mission last August...
  • President gave an instruction on how the Book of Mormon proves the bible
  • "sacred ground of the sacred grove, hallowed ground of hill cumorah....find your own sacred grove"
  • Mormon 8:34-35
  • We split up into zone(stakes) and met with our stake presidents, ours is President Cluff...he's so awesome, he and I are good friends and we had a good discussion about the stake, his expectations for the missionaries, and stake goals and statistics...it was sooo good! He kept talking about how important each individual is to the stake, he is all about rescuing the less actives and helping everyone get to the temple, it's so great(:
  • Sister Shumway talked about choosing the hard road and how "that has made all the difference"
  • "Be a leaf on a stream and let the Lord take you where He will" -President Shumway
  • Then Sister Shumway said "what a glorious blessing this mission has been...but Elders and Sisters...THE BEST IS YET TO COME! <3
  • Then she told us..fighting the tears.."in thirty years you may forget me...but I will never forget each and every one of you..." yeah...that broke us all down<3 I just love them
  • President said the greatest thing you can ever do is read the Book of Mormon daily
  • Then...referring to the car wreck last august that occurred when I was in the MTC right before coming to Oklahoma he said "Elders and Sisters...there has been no accidents in this mission..." I was sitting by both Sister Petersen and Sister Kitchen who knew and were companions with Sister Vea...we all just lost it...it was something I'll never forget<3
What a blessing to know the Shumways...I love them wholeheartedly...and if you are in Utah in two weeks you should definitely attend their homecoming...they are amazing. It will be hard to see them go...but we're excited for the new mission president and transition into the Bentonville Arkansas Mission!!! 

MY HEART IS SO FULL<3 <3

I love ya'll!!!!

Sister Bailey











it's not about YOU

June 1st

hey everyone!

I don't have much time today because we have a district outing in muskogee! I'm so pumped!!! We are tie dyeing shirts and going to a butterfly dome thing and to lunch, and my district is sooooo sick. Haaaa seriously everyone is so fun! There's us in Henryetta, the Tahlequah Elders who are sooo funny, the STL's in muskogee, and then Eufaula Elders who is the district leader, it's gonna be such a good time (: 

The miracle this week was that we had 100% member present lessons!!!!! That's incredible for Henryetta!! We were just so enthusiastic and persistent with the members that it happened and it was awesome (: The best day was Tuesday, we had 4 different members come with us that day and we were crazy busy. I love busy days(: And the whole mission did awesome too!!! We broke several records and got 93% member present lessons as a mission!! THAT'S CRAZY GOOD!! Man...the OTM is seriously the best mission in the world!! We're truly finishing strong with President Shumway! I love that man by the way...he called me on Saturday and gave me a pep talk...I'm going to miss him so much!!!

The weather has been insane...it's always like 85 degrees but it rains...like constantly and there's tons of flooding, it's nothing too severe around us, but sometimes we can't really drive because the ditches fill up and then the water has no where to go except the road. But it's really fun to watch! I've ever seen it rain so hard in my life! One morning we were running and within like 5 minutes it started down pouring and we were drenched...it was like a shower!! hahaha we got home and rung out our shirts...we should've taken a picture! But I do have one from one of the days we tracted in the rain, I'll attach it (:

I don't have too much else to report on this week...the area is kind of slow and there isn't much to do...but it's okay! It's just different from my last two areas where we were constantly running around seeing people AND they loved us and wanted us to visit...here is a lil different but it's okay because we are still doing good work. But i keep learning over and over the principle "it's not about you". Something that's really good for me...I had kind of a rough week...but it's okay. I always find peace and comfort in the Book of Mormon, this time around reading it is amazing and it helps so much. I hope ya'll are reading it everyday, I promise it makes the biggest difference.

this morning I was reading in the ensign and studying faith out on our deck because it's finally sunny and nice! there was this quote by President Hinckley "When all is said and done, the only real wealth of the church is in the faith of its people". 

andddd I loved that!!

Others things I learned this morning:

Faith is more than attitude, belief, more than mere expression of what one knows or feels. Its founded on truth, preceded by knowledge, and perfected by works.

It causes mortals to understand and behave as Heavenly Father's children should.

You can measure faith by :

1. Choices we make
2. Devotion we exhibit
3. Obedience we practice
4. Service we give

awesome right?! 

oh something else random, my best friend here is this 11 year old named John, I think I mentioned him last week. haha he's so freaking funny. yesterday at church he wanted to sit by us during combined 3rd hour and he has ADHD and did not want to be quiet or sit still so I convinced him to have a conversation with me in my notebook and to draw pictures. We ended up talking about baseball, pokemon, eminem, and Jesus? It was pretty awesome. Haha man..I really do love this area...just for different reasons than before!

All in all....SISTER BAILEY IS HAPPY TO BE A MISSIONARY!!

I LOVE YA'LL!!!!!!!<3

sister bay



just kind of soaked
#okmulgeerising



imma meet cha half wayyyyyyyy

hey guys!!

so this sista is half wayyyyyyyy!! 

shoutout to all my homies getting home in the next few weeks....can't believe it's already been two years! ahhhhhh ya'll better get the welcome home party for me!!! see ya in February, okay?!

so this week was good, just trying to get stuff going for us here...i love it here, but i miss the city!! but it's all good, there are a lot of amazng people here (: and i absolutely adore the youth here...

plus there's two 12 year olds, John (our recent convert) and wyatt, that are so freaking funny...they remind me sooo much of my nephew kayden. john and i have a secret handshake and we do it several times every time we see each other, he's the bomb. ( i miss you kdawggg )

tuesday was a blasttttt we had zone training up in broken arrow and drove up with the eufaula elders, so that was sick! elder lindsay and elder jensen, they're both far into their missions and are so funny! i'll send a picture! also we all brought breakfast and ate together before the meeting started...#zoneunity but this zone training was really special because it was my LAST interview with President Shumway! I love that man...it was so so speical...he's like a father to me and he just kept saying how much he is going to miss me. He shared D&C 58:3-4 with me. In preparation for interviews he had us all pick one or two christ-like attributes and write a lil paper about them, i chose charity and love. He read mine, put it down and said, " Sister Bailey, I'll cherish this forever." Then he read my weekly email from the week before and it started off with "oh President, stop making me blush!" he died laughing and said "you knew i was going to read this out loud to you for the first time today, huh?" hahaha but i honestly forgot he did that! but it was way funny...

ahhhh i don't have time to finish this email!! soooo have a good week everyone!!! <3 <3

love ya'll!!!

sister bayyyyy