Tudo Bem Familia!
This week was really good! We've been enjoying the nice 75-85 degree weather with plenty of sunshine with some nice rain storms:) I've forgotten what it's like to have snow and cold weather, I'm really starting to enjoy and love the Sunshine State! We also took a trip down to the Mission Office to stock up on supplies and to get a new bike rack for the car. It was really good to see the senior couples and get to talk with them for a bit. We had to drive Elder Houskeeper (the vehicle coordinator) to Home Depot to get some tools and ran into sister Bagget, she was one of my favorite members in Davie, she is single and was like a grandma away from home. she was so happy to see me she tried to hug me, then remembered that we could only shake hands. We chatted for a bit then she gave us money to go get lunch, so we went to Chick-fil-a and ran into another one of my favorite families from Davie! It was a really good day!
Other than that this week was really good for Elder Mota and I to introspect and to become better. We've been reading the talks "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary", "The Sacred Missionary", and "The Marks of a Man" in order for us to know what we need to do to become those consecrated missionaries, or I changed the name to become the "Golden" missionaries that God needs us to be. We worked really hard last week but during nightly planning we didn't feel satisfied, our physical bodies were exhausted but our Spirits were telling us that we had a lot more spiritually to give to God. We had an amazing planning session last night where we made plans to become the "Golden" missionaries this week. It won't just be a week long journey but we will be starting to make those changes this week. We realized that we had raised the bar for ourselves and God, through his Spirit, told us that we just didn't quite reach the bar. We are going to put forth more effort to put our heart and mind into the work, not just our strength. We started making these changes last week and one of the changes we made was to OYM more and to have more meaningful/purpose filled OYMs. That's where we saw our AMAZING Miracle!!!
We were biking when we saw a lady ahead of us walking her dog. We pulled over to let her pass on the sidewalk and gave her a "He is the Gift" card. She (her name is Sue) saw the card and said, "Well, I'm Jewish, but I converted over to Christianity a few years ago in Arizona and I need to be baptized!" She then said, "I'm going to a church tomorrow to be baptized." We told her that we could help her be baptized on the 14th into the true Church of Jesus Christ by someone holding His priesthood authority. She found that very interesting and non-coincidental that we had crossed paths that afternoon at that precise time. We testified that it was no coincidence. She asked "what makes your church different from all the other Christian churches I have been attending?" What an excellent question:) We jumped into some H2BT points and went into the Restoration. She really liked that and said, "well, I feel guilty for not knowing about that message until now!" We continued to talk about her baptism and then she asked some of the greatest questions on earth, she said "I really like what we've been talking about, but there are 2 questions I've always wondered and I haven't found an answer yet. I want to know why I'm here, and where I go after I die." we opened up the BofM and shared some scriptures to help answer those questions, then we rescheduled to share the rest of the message that night. It was an amazing miracle!!!! My testimony grew so much more in the power of OYM'ing.
This week I have been studying on how to be a better missionary and a better leader. I looked at the Sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger for an example to follow and based my studies off of their experiences. I read Mosiah chapters 26-28, about their conversion, then went to Alma chapters 17-19 so focus on Ammon. I made a list of characteristics and attributes that they all had and tried to seek out what made them so great. I came to find that they fit a lot of the characteristics of the "Golden" Missionary. I noticed how much charity, faith and hope they had and how they were wholly converted to their purpose and put their trust in God. They truly desired to help their brethren, Msh 28:3, "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.
Because of them being so converted they "were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.
And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth." (Msh 27:36-37)
We've worked on applying that into our lives and into our district to help us achieve and to become "Golden"!
I love you guys a lot and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Spencer Bailey
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