1/21/14 | . . . I can't think of anything creative for the title, wait, here we go "Jumped by a spider"

What a week!  Actually it was a pretty rough week number wise, but we worked hard and biked like crazy, so it was a good week.  Also it was my Birthday!  Birthdays are awesome! I got to do 2 of my favorite things 1. ride my bike 2. knock on doors.  So it was a really good bday.  Also I got a cake in the mail from my mommy which was amazing! I think my comp and I ate half of it as soon as we got it:) it was delicious! And then we got another surprise knock on the door at 9:45 and it was the nice papa john pizza delivery man again!  My mom is awesome! and so is my dad!   And i got the coolest presents, so thanks mom and dad:)

Now on to the miracles.  Like I said, last week we struggled number wise, so on Sunday we introspected and found things that were haltering our success.  We repented  and made a commitment to be better this week. And the Lord has already blessed us for our efforts.  Yesterday, after biking all morning and trying to track down Less-Active members, we find this apt. complex where this LA supposedly lives.  As we were biking through this complex I remembered I had been here almost 3 months ago and found that lady who asked if we had a Bible (look at my email sent on Nov. 5 and you'll get her background).  I felt like we should go see her, so we did.  We knocked on her door and she was home and she still wants to be baptized!!!  We set a date for Feb 3 and are meeting with her tonight!

Then right after that we went to try the LA.  We knocked on the door and some Indian couple answered the door.  Turns out the LA had moved a year ago, so we asked the Indian couple if we could bless their home, and they hesitantly agreed.  We left the blessing and afterward the husband broke into tears.  We invited them to be baptized on Feb 3 and he said tearfully, "We have been talking about being baptized and we need to, so yes!"  The Spirit was so strong and I know that we were guided by the Spirit to see that particular LA, because we could've tried LA that lived near us, but the one we were prompted to try  lived at our southern border.  And it was the Spirit that brought back to my remembrance the lady I met 3 months ago.  The Spirit is amazing! and I know that the Lord has blessed us greatly!

This past week we had Zone-Training and President and Sister Anderson showed up!  It was an amazing training.  We talked about something called DPA (Doctrine, Principle, Application)  it is the format of how we should teach.  We find the investigators need and teach accordingly with appropriate goals and commitments that will help them repent and come unto Christ.

Funny story of the week.  We were knocking in this nicer area (yes, not the ghetto:( and we saw 8 bunnies.  Super random but weird, and we had been knocking for quite a while and decided to chase the bunnies and mix things up a bit.  A little side story, there are A LOT of spider webs in Florida.  And most people aren't taller than 6'0.  So spider webs above 6'0 go untouched. . . until I come into the neighborhood and they all end up wrapped around my head somehow.  So as we were trying to catch these bunnies, I ran face first into a Banana spider's web.   Banana spider's on average are about the size of a man's palm, and they can get really big.  As I'm trying to get untangled from this web, my Comp looks up and sees this huge banana spider creeping toward me, so he says "Elder, you'd better run."  I look up and I look face-to-face with this humongous spider!  To say the least I was terrified, because I've had some run-ins with spiders the last couple of weeks and I hate spiders.  So that's my story of the week.

Well, that's all I've got for this week:)  Also look up 3 Nephi 12:10-12, it's another great missionary scripture.  Also, hi Nick Gubler! It sounds like you were an amazing missionary!  Thanks for being a great example to me!

Have a great week, I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Spencer Bailey

btw, I'll probably be transferred next week since I've been here for over 4 months now.  So if any of you send mail send it to the mission address not my apt address or else I won't get it for months:) thanks!