#ldsconf

here's my fav from ‪#‎ldsconf‬ :

Simply living life can be and often is a humbling experience. Accident and illness, the death of loved ones, problems in relationships, even financial reversals can bring us to our knees. Whether these difficult experiences come through no fault of our own or through bad decisions and poor judgment, these trials are humbling. If we choose to be spiritually attuned and remain humble and teachable, our prayers become more earnest and faith and testimony will grow as we overcome the tribulations of mortal existence.

you can watch this talk here //

my belated homecoming //

this last weekend after my crazy spring break i finally gave my missionary report homecoming talk in my home ward in Highland, UT. i have been home for almost 7 months now, i should have returned home on february 26, 2016 but i was medically released august 22, 2015 almost exactly a year after i originally flew to Oklahoma with my amazing MTC group. 

when i returned home for my chronic back pain i got an MRI and discovered 2.5 bulging discs in my low back, which explained a whole lot. after physical therapy & some cortisone shots in my facet joins i'm doing much better :) i still have my bad days but for the most part it's all good in the hood.

as a result of my crazy spring break in st. george / san diego / provo i literally did not have time to write a homecoming talk so i just kind of winged it. i mean, i had a lot of ideas but i really wanted it to be from the heart, plus i had lots of practice on my mission ;)

anyways . . . i quoted this poem (?)  from my mission president that sister palmer & i memorized / recited every morning when we were companions in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and like 1 & a half dozen people asked me for a copy, sooo here it is . . . enjoy!! 

The Completely Committed

 I have joined the ranks of the completely committed. 

The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am and will be now and forever a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, fall back, let up, slow down, or be still.

I have found my Savior and my past is behind me. My present has purpose, and because of the Him, my future is secure. I'm finished and done and low living, small giving and dwarfed goals. I no longer need position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to prove I'm right or be recognized. I'm not seeking praise or to be regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, exercise patience, uplifted by prayer, and labor unceasingly. My face is set, my pace is fast, and my goal is the Celestial Kingdom. 

My road is narrow, and sometimes rough--but my guide knows the way and my mission is clear. I cannot be brought, compromised, detoured or lured away. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have put up and toughened up. I am exactly obedient to the cause of Christ. I will work, sacrifice, climb over or go through any obstacle; and when I get down, or feel run down, I will look up--and reach up--until I am "Lifted up." 

Until He comes, I must give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He declares . . . "The work is done." 

In the end, when the fight is over, my vision is clear. 

To meet Him . . . to be wrapped in His arms and to whisper in His ear, "I did it." Then . . . I shall worship at His feet and listen for His reply . . . "well done thou good and faithful servant."

push

hey ya'll!! 

we've had a crazy day already! currently emailing from a lil office in gore, oklahoma. we met with the mission physical therapist, which was amazing...he saves my life (: now we're emailing real quick then heading to muskogee for our zone outing, should be exciting!! but lots of driving...we do a lot of that in henryetta driving between okmulgee and okemah and it gives me plenty of time to think sooo this week i came up with this cute lil acronym. sometimes the mission is hard and frustrating and days feel like years but you just have to push through it and in the end everything is good and you learn so much and have a blast while you're doing it (: so with that in mind, it goes something like this...

Press Forward (2 Nephi 31:20)

Unity w/ your companion (Mosiah 18:21)

Strength of the Lord (Alma 20:4, Alma 26:12)

Heart (Helaman 3:35, Mosiah 5:7, Mosiah 7:33)

I've learned so strongly on my mission that you have to rely on the Lord more than ever. I've learned that having unity with your companion can make or break your success with the members, the area, and investigators. Each companion is different and unique and you can learn so much from the different people you serve with. And in the midst of it all they become your best friends<3 I've learned a lot about the grace-the enabling power of the atonement which allows you to do so much more with the strength of the Lord than you otherwise could on your own. Lastly, I've learned that you have to put your heart in all that you do. Even if it's hard and you don't want to do something, the Lord asks for more than just clean hands, he wants our whole heart in the work. When things get hard and frustrating and you don't feel well you just go work anyway, you work around problems, and you love everyone...because you love the Lord <3

we had an awesome week, i wish i had more time to talk about all of it, but here's a few things:

• we did companion study at arby's bcuz of noodle ball in the morning and an awesome guy OTM'd us and he left with a book of mormon and the elders phone number in tulsa...it was so awesome. he's like the most prepared person ever

• i went on exchanges in muskogee for the first time with sister preston, when i got there she said that someone in the ward had died and lot of the people we were planning to see that day needed to meet me and hear about my story...let's just say it was an amazing day...probably one of the most spirit filled days on my mission....i wish i could tell ya'll all about it butttt i'll just have to fill you in in about approx 7 months!

• ward council was amazing yesterday!! i almost cried because it was so different!! if i leave after this transfer i'll be happy that we could influence and help bring the spirit into ward council here...man the gospel is amazing!!

sorry this is such a lame email...but I LOVE YA'LL!! 

have a lovely week!!

all my love,

sister bailey

da purple giraffe

hiiiiiiiii ya'll 

(i'm running out of cool subject lines lol)

first of all, just want to say thank you for everyone that emails me and sends me things in the mail! and even if you don't, sister bailey loves all ya'll!

okayyy imma make this kind of short today because we have all kinds of activities planned with other missionaries here in henryetta, it should be a blast(: I love preparation day and I love other missionaries! I don't know if it's like this in other missions but we are all such good friends. Likeee all the Elders are like my brothers and the sisters are like my best friends. I'm just real happy to be here!

highlights of da week:

tuesday Taryn, one of the young women, came out with us alllll day! ahaha i'm pretty sure we picked her up at 9 AM and took her home at 930 PM, it was quite a day! (; it was soo rainy and a lot of people canceled on us but we still had a really fun and productive day, but the best part was noodle ball!! (forever trying to figure out why i haven't talked about this before....maybe i have, either way its the greatest) soooo every tuesday morning we got to this rest home in okmulgee and play noodle balls with some of the folks there. it's hilarious...so basically the nurses gather 8-10 residents and put their wheelchairs in a circle. then we hand them pool noodles and start the four huge balloons and push play on the cd of classic disco music. AND THEY LOVE IT!! our job is to keep the balloons going and get them if they go out of bounds. it is seriously the funnest thing. we've become friends with a lot of really cute old people and they just think the world of us, mannnn they are darling! and taryn really enjoyed she wants to come every week! (:

we got to see our GOLDEN investigator Beverly again. it was so perfect! she is so prepared and loves learning and just accepts everything we teach. I love her so much and I know that I'll keep in contact with her forever, she is so amazing <3 <3

we had dinner with my newest adopted parents, the haynes, they are hilarious. they actually aren't married anymore but they're still really good friends...anyway! they took us out to this place that's a lot like sizzler and i got a  huge steak, of course (; and they have a clown that walks around and does face painting and balloon animals? haha so she made me a purple giraffe and she asked a lot of questions about mormons so i said "you know a lot about mormons" shes like "yup" and i'm like "do you know any mormons?" she says "yup" so i say "wanna be a mormon?" she laughs and says "you're cute...." hahaha it was a #classicsisterbailey move, but really i went and talked to her again later and got her card and we talked about all kinds of things...fun times (;

we had a break through this week with the leadership of the ward!! ahh prayer works...i promise. and the lord really does soften hearts...Henryetta is just a really challenging area...but when i came here President Shumway told me that he knew I could make a difference...so we'll see if that actually happens. But people keep telling me I have the right personality for Henryetta?...not sure what that means exactly...but i think it has something do with the fact that I'm not scared to say what I think and work around road blocks to make things happen sometimes? IDK i'm just real happy to be here. we had a 2 hour meeting with our Bishop and discussed a lot about ward council and hopefully made some suggestions to make it more productive and successful, we'll see what this week brings (; Bishop Gustin is a champion though...we sure love him! it's the best when you have an awesome relationship with your Bishop and he trust you (:

the best part of my week was on saturday when my best friend Eliza came to visit me from Bentonville!!! Ahhhhhhh it was so good to see her, I love her so much!! We got to catch up and she went out teaching with us in Okemah and we ended up going to two dinner appointments and we laughed a lot and just had a blast. Man...I can't imagine my life without all the friends I've made on my mission, they're so cool && fun... I'm the luckiest girl in the world <3

yesterday was awesome too, we taught gospel principles, like usual, and literally didn't prepare anything but we got up there and taught about the sabbath day like champs (; it's funny because before my mission i could have never done that, but the mission teaches you to be able to get up and talk in front of a room full of people no problem. I feel like I've really learned how to just follow the spirit and ask inspired questions to involve everyone in the lesson and turns out it's really fun! (; then yesterday evening we spent with our fav part member family!! we had chicken fried steak and played 4 way chess and several rounds of cards. we love them so much. the dad is basically a member...we joke a lot about him getting baptized and at one point i got out my planner and asked him all the baptismal interview questions!! hahaha it was hilarious, someday he'll get there (:

welllll everyone i hope ya'll have a lovely week!!

i am so happy to be a missionary (:

i love ya'll!!!

sister bailey 

shoutout to eliza for driving 3 hours to see me <3

jesUSAvior

7/6/15

my subject line comes directly from a whole family of oklahomies t-shirts in the wal-mart...hahaha man, i love this place. and i love america! mannn the 4th was wayyy too good!! this whole week was awesome...i'm just so blessed.

soo remember the 10 week goals i talked about likeee 10 weeks ago? haaa well this week was week 10  of the goals which was doubling the standard of excellence, which means 40 lessons, 60% of the lessons with a member, 2 investigators @ church, and 4 new investigators!! mannn we were so stressed because thats a huge stretch for Henryetta, buttttt some awesome things happened. talk about miracles on miracles...we were so busy the whole week, running around like crazy people especially on tuesday andfriday (we spend those days in okmulgee). last week we did a lot of preparation for this week, like setting up exchanges and appointments with several less actives we've never met before. we also had a couple people we prayed about whom we thought were ready to officially become investigators, andddd guess what 2 of the 4 became new investigators and they're doing awesome(: we saw so many people this week and the ward really helped us out, which was an awesome change. I'm just blown away at how big of a difference prayer makes..the Lord really does listen, he prepares people and he softens hearts like none other (:

something crafty: last monday we started all sorts of arts and crafts...mostly because all of our recent converts and several of the people we teach are children...so we thought we'd make some visuals to make the lessons more fun (: So far we drew the Plan of Salvation on this huge sheet  andddd I made a fun cup display to teach  the Restoration, and yes, I have pictures...I'll attach em (:

something exciting: we finally got to meet with our investigator family, the davis'!! they moved here a couple months ago from Louisiana where they were meeting with the missionaries. they are so open to the gospel the mom has really researched the church and wants her family to be a part of it. she has a 19 year old son who is way cool, a 10 year old, her daughter madeline is 8 and is so adorable and loves to learn about jesus, then there's a cute lil 2 year old named george! so excited to keep teaching them (:

something really really cool: sooo there's this awesome less active family out in Morris (near okmulgee) the mom grew up in the church, the dad is a convert, the oldest son is a member, the two teenage sons never got baptized. the parents were sealed in the temple and over time they got out of the habit of coming to church. but they are sooooo cool...they are so humble and so loving. they have a super nice house out in the middle of nowhere. they raise pigs each year and the boys show them so they taught us all about that. they're oldest son Hayden got drafted out of high school BY THE YANKEES!!! ahhhhhh they told us all about how it happened and the process and the managers and inside yankee stadium and all this crazy stuff. although us bailey's are red sox fans, it's still cool to hear about the yankee life...and apparently Derek Jeter is a freak about people touching his stuff hahaha. but the cool thing is that they want us to start teaching their teenagers!! I'm so excited, they are just such a great family and I just hope and pray that the spirit will guide us and the ward will support us as we work with the boys and bring the whole family back to activity..(:

something spiritual: thursday we had a first zone conference with our new mission president and his family, the Lovelands. They are so awesome, I already love them! It seemed like they were a little nervous and timid at first, but the whole meeting was super powerful and spiritual. We miss the Shumways so much, but I know the Lovelands are supposed to be here leading the Arkansas Bentonville Mission!! President Loveland talked a lot about grace, the strength of the Lord, and the Atonement. He shared my favorite scripture since the beginning of my mission, Alma 26:12<3 It was great to be able to see the hand of the Lord in everything we do.

something funny: one evening we were out to eat with some members and one of my favorite songs came on so Sister Buttars and I conveniently  noticed our water glasses were empty so we went over to the other side of the restaurant to fill up our glasses and where the music was easier to hear. then someone behind us says "LOOK! it's the missionaries!!" andddd we're like "whaaaaaat? someone knows us?" haha it was a new thing for us in Henryetta, we got so excited and went over to talk to them and turns out they're less active members of the Henryetta ward and two of their nephews had just returned from their missions so they were all excited about missionary work and we had a great conversation with them...they talked about wanting to come on exchanges with us and how they needed to come to church...and guess who showed up to church on sunday and bore their testimony?! it was pretty awesome...funny though that we were over there so we could listen to a song but also where they could see us...hahaha it was way funny out it all worked out

something patriotic: the fourth was soooo awesome!! we went into the day not having a whole lot of plans whatsoever but ended up having a great day. plus i have been waiting to wear my 4th of july outfit for months now! i'll send pictures no worries (; we did some preparation for ward council in the afternoon, visited with Bishop Gustin, then went to a cook out with our ward mission leader's family and another family in the ward! there was tons of food and good company and we played lawn games and did fireworks! they bought a whole bunch so we had our own lil show, they were so funny about us being there though. They would only let us touch the sparklers and made sure we were sitting in the back of the truck whenever fireworks were being lit! hahaha but we took lots of fun sparkler pictures, it was a great evening. I love BBQ ribs and I LOVE AMERICA!!!! hahaha #classicSisterBailey

something happy: the best part of the week was probably church yesterday!! I love fast and testimony meeting, it is always so spirit filled. But the greatest part of all was that our golden investigator, whom we haven't been able to meet with for weeks, Beverly, came to church!!! She loved it and stayed for all three hours. Everyone kept asking us how we met her and were so impressed by her! She is so prepared! (: We are seeing her again on Tuesday so pray that it goes well <3 We were just so happy so see her there!

Well ya'll, get ready for a lot of pictures from the 4th! 

I LOVE YA'LL!!!

Sister B (:

1) the cups

2) 4th breakfast...donuts & coke (aren't you proud melissa?)

3) my much anticipated 4th of july outfit

   

"Hope you know, we had a hard time"

6/29/15

hey ya'll!!!

well...it was a hard week...but that doesn't mean it was bad. it was actually really really good, just hard. but all in all, i'm grateful. I'm learning a lot and (hopefully) growing. Henryetta has been good for me. I'm learning to rely on the Lord more than ever. Previously I've relied heavily on myself; my personality, abilities, & strengths. But now...I really know that it isn't about me, or what Sister Bailey can do. It's not Sister Bailey's mission or Sister Bailey's area or Sister Bailey's investigators, it's the Lord's mission, area, and investigators. I'm being humbled and slowing I think I'm changing into the person Heavenly Father wants me to be. That's the goal anyway (: I'm very grateful to have Sister Buttars with me through all the craziness, she keeps me laughing.

We had a week full of miracles!! Our zone set two new goals 1) to double our prays 2) to talk to 5 new people every day. Sometimes we get too busy running from appointment to appointment we forget to look around and talk to the people around us who could absolutely be prepared for the gospel, as a result we met so many awesome new people this week! And the zone we started this thing were we dare our companion to talk to random people, it's pretty entertaining and something good always comes from it!! As we doubled our prayers, things just worked out way more perfectly and smoothly. I can't tell you how many times we went into a lesson without a member and ended having a member present lesson! It seemed like every single less active had a friend over and introduced us to them. It was awesome!! The work is really starting to pick up here, we are keeping ourselves really busy, which is so nice!

We had zone training this week up in Muskogee, which was the greatest thing (: Our zone is sooooo tight. All the instructions from the Zone Leaders were sooo good, probably best meeting I've been to in a longggg time! It was just so spirit filled, everyone was participating, sharing experiences, and teaching each other. It also had a good balance of fun and being serious, sometimes making jokes and messing around can kill the spirit, but it was just perfect this time! The OTM is huge on asking inspired questions, and we talked about how when President made that a focus around this time last year it totally changed our mission. We talked about testifying about what your companion says, one Elder piped up and was like "it's basically combos for the knockout!! you teach your companion testifies then you testify and they agree to be baptized!" hahaha it was classic. then elder day got up to instruct on obedience and said "today we are instructing on disobedience..uh..i mean...obedience? man, i killed that one pretty fast..." ahaha  but it was actually super good and he talked about how we obey today and understand tomorrow. I remember in Zone conference President talked about finding your own sacred ground, and Elder Day talked about when we are obedient all the ground we walk on becomes sacred. Cool right?

This Wednesday we will officially become the Arkansas Bentonville Mission, with our new mission President, President Loveland!! We are so excited! It's going to be interesting to see the difference and go through the whole change but I know that it will be wonderful(: someone this week said "change exposes what is in your heart" and I've learned how true that is. Because things in life are always changing, whether they are big or small, our attitude towards them makes all the difference. It can greatly help or hinder us, but most importantly it is up to us! After all, change is good because it helps us grow (: This time through the Book of Mormon I've been circling every time is references the HEART. It's clear to me now more than ever that the Lord knows what is in our hearts<3 

The highlight of the week was Saturday!! We were so blessed to be able to attend the greatest baptism ever!!! It was for this man, Donald, who is in the Muskogee ward! Sister Buttars was trained there and taught him. He has the most amazing story...he is evidence that the Atonement is real. President Shumway did his baptism interview and spoke at the baptism and bore a powerful testimony of the cleaning and enabling power of the Atonement...the spirit there was unbelievable, we all balled like babies! It was a great thing to be apart of and it was sooo great to see the Shumways one last time before they head back to Utah. I <3 them so hard! Then the greatest tender mercy of all was running into my adopted parents from Tahlequah, the Warrens, while we were still in Muskogee and going to lunch!! It was so so fun to see them and catch them up on all my crazy mission stories. I'll attach a picture with them (: (:

Yesterday the Stake Presidency attended out ward which was AWESOME!! President Cluff just the greatest...the highlight was sacrament was when the piano player didn't show up and the bishopric was working on playing the recording from the electric organ (which quite frankly any hymn on there sounds like a death march) when President Cluff jumps up and starts playing the opening hymn on the piano. It was so funny, and turns out he is a great piano player! hahaha all the talks were great and they focused on ministering.  At the end President Cluff got up and talked all about missionary work...it was perfect, exactly what we needed! I am soooo grateful for him (:

Lastly, big congratulations to my sister Rachael and her HUSBAND Michael!!! While ya'll be eating wedding cake I was eating baptism cake in Oklahoma!! I am so happy for ya'll and just know that I was thinking about ya'll all day! I was definitely there in spirit! I was so thrilled to hear it was all so lovely!! Plus everyone looked real good (;

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

here's the mormon message i quoted in my subject line (;

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2009-05-21-hope-ya-know-we-had-a-hard-time?lang=eng

all my love,

Sister Bailey

the wedding!

the warrens!

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