11/25/13 | Learning to dunk

N___ got baptized yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Super excited as you can see from my exclamation points! It was amazing! I had the opportunity to baptize him since it is my first, so it was awesome!  There is definitely power in the ordinance of baptism. I give all thanks to God for this baptism, as it was because of Him that we found N___.  It reminds me of Alma 26:12 (look it up, it's really good). And also the scripture in D&C 18:16 came to mind as I was baptizing Nate, (look that up to, it's excellent).  Man what a day yesterday! Also you are probably wondering what I meant by Learning to dunk in the title, out here the Flo-Rida's refer to baptizing as dunking. Odd, but I'll roll with it, it sounds cool:)  

On other news, we basically have almost no one to teach. It's been a rough week of finding people, except that we found someone through media referrals on Saturday. His name is Bobo (and since that is a nickname I'll use it, since I'm still not giving out his real name:) and he is awesome! The thing that he wrote on his Mormon.org application thing is "I love the Lord with all my heart." and he really does!  We taught him the other day and the Spirit was super strong. Bobo is the epitome of ghetto black and we were teaching about the Spirit and he wasn't catching on, so I was prompted to say this, "the spirit is like your conscience but on steroids."  As soon as I said that I was like, "seriously Spencer, that was one of the weirdest analogies you've ever made." while my comp and the 2nd counselor in the bishopric(who came with us) gave me the weirdest look, Bobo said "ahh, now that makes sense!"  Yeah! The Spirit is the best teacher.

Random insert, I think that Satan really knows my weaknesses.  This last week I saw 6 long boarders, and I suddenly started to have withdrawals from long boarding.  I hadn't seen 1 long board the whole time I've been here until last week! It just caused me to unfocus from the work, Satan is evil, and he knows how to distract us.

When you teach doctrine, the Spirit testifies the truth of it unto you.  And it brings personal experiences that you forgot about to share during lessons.  We were teaching N___ the Word of Wisdom last week and I was prompted to share a story about one of my best friends growing up.  We had been really good friends all through junior high and half of high school, we had talked about going on missions and I knew that he had a testimony of the Gospel.  We had shared our testimonies on multiple occasions with each other while on scouting excursions and in fast and testimony meeting. I told N___ that because of drugs he is now in Colorado smoking weed, most likely.  I shared the hurt that it caused me and my other friends and the hurt it still causes us.  N___ saw how my friends decisions had hurt so many people, (and I may or may not have been brushing away a few tears) and after that N___ committed that he would never do drugs, it was really powerful.  Personal experiences can change the whole lesson around.

For some reason this week, we have run across a lot of asians, that for some reason think we speak chinese.  We knocked on an old Chinese woman's door and she started speaking Chinese and I'm used to running into Spanish people so I said, "No hablo espanol." Then she stopped and looked at me for a second, then started speaking Chinese again! What the heck?!? didn't she understand that I dont speak spanish;) so we gave her a Jesus card and she started pointing up to the sky and babbling on in Chinese again, then we waved goodbye and walked off, as she was still trying to talk to us in Chinese, weird experience to say the least.

Now on to the good stuff! N___ has a girlfriend that is a J-dub (or Jehovah Witness) and she wanted to have a friendly chat about religion (yeah right, she set me up for a bible bash).  So I called her up the other night, and she just started going at it, it probably looked pretty funny from my comps point of view, because I was sitting at my desk with the phone a foot away from my ear and you could still hear her perfectly.  She asked me what I believed, so I started bearing my testimony and she interrupted me. Now, I don't like being interrupted, so I said "*insert name here* I'm trying to tell you what I believe in so listen up for a second. How about we make a deal?" she says, "ok", then I say "you let me talk for 1 minute and I'll tell you everything I know about the Gospel, sound fair?" She said "I 'spose so" So I started bearing my testimony again (and I had a timer out) and after 20 seconds she interrupts me again. so I said, " *insert name here* I thought we had a deal! You just broke it! I still have 40 seconds!" she said, "you were timing it?" I said, "of course, so that something like this wouldn't happen." So she reluctantly let me continue, and I bore my testimony for 40 more seconds.  that's a cool thing to do, to share all of your beliefs in a minute, it's a challenge! then she started yelling at me again, so I started writing in my journal as the phone lay on the desk, when it went silent, I picked it back up and said, "awesome, well now that we know more about each others religions, lets call it a night" Then she started yelling again so I just hung up. Shortly after N___ called me up to apologize for his girlfriends reaction, and how he was thinking she wasn't right for him. N___ is super dedicated, he was willing to break up with his girlfriend so that he could become a member of this church, and he did! So it all worked out:)

This is a long letter so I'll wrap up now.  One more quick story. Yesterday I sat through what was probably the best, and most energetic, primary program ever! We had a lot of investigators there and non-members. After a kid would bear their testimony, the investigators and non-members would clap and cheer! It was hilarious and the kids were doing fist pumps and waving at the audience, It was so funny!  Even a midst all this, the Spirit was still really strong and people pointed that out after.  So it was all good!

Well, I love you guys! thanks for your prayers and emails, and letters!  Have a fantastic week!

Love, Elder Spencer Bailey

11/18/13

This week was an interesting week.  First off the 2 potential baptisms we had set up for Sunday fell through.  Nate ended up having to go to Orlando for a family trip and Matt has to have his case brought before the First Presidency, so that could be months before he's baptized.  But on the bright side, Nate is set up for this Sunday to be baptized, and Matt will be baptized in due time, so all is well:)

First cool thing that happened this week was while I was on an exchange with Elder Comstock.  We were teaching a lady the plan of salvation, and her mom had died a few weeks ago.  While teaching, she just started crying and told us that she believed that what we were teaching was true.  She's catholic and the way that her mom died was by suicide, and the Catholic's belief is that if you commit suicide, you automatically go to hell.  So she found great comfort knowing that she would see her mom again and the spirit was super strong in that lesson.  The Spirit is super cool. Without it, lessons are very hollow and nothing gets done.  The Spirit is what converts people to the gospel, all we do is talk a lot:)

And then we had a really interesting harvesting day.  We were in this apartment complex knocking on doors, and this one guy answered and we asked if we could pray with him, he said "no, I worship Satan."  We had never heard that one before,  so my comp and I were caught off guard, and Elder wood replied, "that horrible!"  then the guy slammed the door.  We both started laughing because of Elder woods response:)  Then promptly after that, we were walking down the street, when a guy called after us.  We thought it was security, since we've been kicked out of places before, so we started walking towards whoever was calling us. when we got closer we saw it was a police! Then a police car came screeching around the corner and a another cop showed up.  They asked what we were doing and we said we were just saying prayers with people.  (come to think of it, that was probably one of the weirdest responses the police had heard)  They said, "prayers? like you go around and pray with people?"  I responded, "yep, basically all day everyday."  They thought for a second, and said "wow, we respect that, but did you know it's against the law in Coconut Creek to solicit?"  (turns out we didn't know that law existed until now)  I said, "no sir, we didn't know we couldn't do that, I mean, all we do is say prayers with people."  Then he explained how even though we just say prayers, knocking door to door is still considered soliciting and some ladies thought we were trying to break into their home so they called the cops on us.  So they had to do a background check which took forever.  luckily our records were clean:) In the end I ended up sweet talking our way out of getting fined a ridiculous amount of money! (ive had some practice with BYU police and R.A.'s over the summer)  but overall I think it was the spirit that softened the hearts of the police men, again, all we do is talk a lot:)

I'm sorry this letter is bad, to say the least i'm very tired, so it's hard to remember anything significant this week and to write it down.  I always believed the return missionaries when they said it was exhausting but now I know what it feels like to be exhausted 24/7.  I always thought, "sweet! I'll be getting 8 hours of sleep every night on my mission, thats way more than what I usually get!" haha I forgot to take into consideration the physical work that we put forth.  But it's always good when you lay down at night, and look back at the day and know that you put forth your whole effort and be delightfully exhausted:)  

Well, sorry for the letter, it seems like it's boring and lacking spiritual things.  I will write down cool experience to share in next weeks letter:)

I love all those random people who read this letter;)

Love,

Elder Spencer Bailey

Elder C & Elder W

11/11/13

You know that you are in a sketchy area when a member calls you asking for directions, and the only way you know how to get around town is by the strip clubs.  There is a major one on almost every corner, so that's how I remember where we are, since there aren't any landmarks around, and that's how we give directions. super sketchy.

Now on to more spiritual stuff:)  The power of prayer is amazing! Especially on the blessing of the food, I always took that for granted until now.  Last weekend we were eating at a members home, and they weren't Haitian. So I was excited that I got a break from Haitian food, and we were having hamburgers so I was super excited!  So the meal began normally, until I took the first bite of my hamburger, and the inside was completely raw.  So gross!  But I thought it would be rude to not eat it, so I said the most powerful, silent, blessing on the food in my whole life.  After that the hamburger tasted amazing, and I thought of the story in Nephi where the Lord made raw meat sweet.  And I didn't get some strange sickness from it so I know that God does answer prayers no matter how simple they are.

I met an awesome guy this week, let's call him Nathan.  We met Nathan while harvesting and his first reaction to us, after answering the door and seeing these 2 tall guys standing there, was jumping back and using some colorful language.  We tend to have that effect on a lot of people.  After we explained that we just wanted to say a prayer with him, he calmed down.  Nathan is the coolest investigator I've had in these short 2 months, (except for the fake one in the MTC) he is so prepared to hear the restored gospel.  He was so excited for church, he woke up at 7 to get ready to be picked up at 9:30, and he also called us to tell us he was ready...at 8:30.  Golden!  He commented more than the members in priesthood meeting! It's amazing!  We are planning on getting him baptized this weekend! I'll keep you posted!

Also I think I mentioned our other solid investigator, lets call him Matt, in the last letter.  He is dry Mormon, meaning he's basically Mormon, but he hasnt been baptized due to legal complexities.  He was supposed to be baptized yesterday but he missed his appointment with the President, so we will have to wait till this Sunday.  We met with him a couple times last week( he is also living at the Bishops home temporarily) and I always learned more from him, then what we were teaching.  We are so used to teaching the basics, that when he brought up scriptures from D&C and was talking about pretty deep doctrine, it blew me away.  We had awesome discussions since he knew as much if not more about the church than Elder Wood and I do.  Golden!

I think that the Lord is really testing my patience and my ability to not argue.  We ran into a Jehovah's Witness on Saturday, and man are they frustrating!  It took so much to hold my tongue and not lash back to his comments.  When people question my beliefs or bash on what I know to be true I get pretty angry, but I always remember how the Savior went about people like this, so I tried my hardest to just nod my head and testify when I could and not argue.  It ended alright.

Last week I followed the advice of my parents and decided to go see a doctor for a cough I've had for about 8 weeks now.  I tried some meds about a month ago, but those just made me stomach sick.  But the doctor gave me some more meds to try since it's not normal to have a cough for this long. But the reason I'm telling this story is she, the doctor, brought up the Temple that is being built, and said how she and the main doctor in the office are so excited to be able to go through it at the open house.  The Temple will be a huge blessing to the people here and it will open the doors to many people.  After the dr's appt. Elder Wood and I drove past the Temple on the way home and it is beautiful!  

Due to popular demand I've decided to tell the semi truck incident from last week (don't worry Mom, I'll make it sound better than it really was)  It was while Elder Taylor and I were on an exchange and we were biking down a narrow street in a neighborhood.  It was all peaceful and then next thing you know there is a huge semi truck right next to us!  Scared me half to death!  It came super close and clipped my shoulder bag (yes a shoulder bag, backpacks aren't allowed)  That's all, at least for the edited version:)

Well thats all the time I have, so I love you all and hope you all have a great week! Also shout out to Monika Cabrera who got her mission call to the land of the spuds, Boise, Idaho! and also to Carly Schiess who got called to the North Pole mission (also known as the Baltic Mission) and to Nathan Quist who got called to the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma mission (sorry nate i couldnt think of anything creative for OKC)

Much love from the ghetto:)

Elder Spencer Bailey

11/5/13

First off I just read Alyssa's letter and I have a couple of words for her, you're lucky! I've been living the opposite of Alyssa, our A/C broke last week for a few days so we were taking cold showers 2-3 times a day to stay cool! And when the A/C brakes it gets really humid inside, so everything we had out got moldy, it was disgusting! 

Well I have an update on the flat tire situation from last week, It turns out that the axle broke when the car fell, when the jack broke.  So we told the mission office and they were going to give us a really old car because of our mistake, then they were like, "We like you guys so we'll give you one of the new 2014 toyota corollas we just got last week."  So I guess good things can happen from stupid mistakes:)  

I can't think of anything crazy happening this last week except for the incident where I almost got hit by a semi, but that story would just scare mom so I'll save it for when I get home:)  And I went on another exchange with Elder T___ (my old comp from the MTC who is really, really short) that was adventurous!  We were harvesting in the super sketchy ghetto that day. Now when Elder T___ and I are together it's a sight to behold, we kinda stick out since he's abnormally short and I'm quite tall.  So people were constantly pointing at us and laughing, which was alright because it opened the way to a lot of conversations, since people wanted to stop and talk to us and ask why I was so tall and why Elder T___ was so short, so we found a lot of cool people that day to come back and teach.  

The Spirit is such a cool influence to have.  We were teaching one of our investigators the Restoration, and all of the sudden in the middle of the lesson, I heard "This isn't what she needs to hear, tie it into the Plan of Salvation" so I did and the lesson went so much better, at the end she said that the message we shared was exactly what she needed to hear that night!  It was awesome!

And on Sunday we were trying to meet an investigator and she wasn't home, so we were walking down the street minding our own business, when I heard someone yelling, "Is that a Bible you're holding?" I shouted back "Yes ma'am" (since thats how you answer back in the ghetto, I guess).  So i ran over to her, and gave her the Bible, she just started bawling, so I stood there awkwardly for a min while she tried to gain her composure.  Then I asked if we could pray with her and the tears started flowing again, I thought "what is wrong with this woman all I did was hand her a Bible" so we said a prayer and she gained enough composure to sort of talk, and explained how she had an "awakening" last Friday and realized that she needed to be saved by Jesus.  And then on Sunday she saw us walking holding a Bible and knew we could help her be saved.  So we committed her to baptism in 2 weeks and said that we could help her prepare!  It was a miracle!  In all honesty it was a tender mercy from God since I don't think Elder wood and I deserved it, we have been having a rocky relationship lately due to the fact that we are both kind of hard-headed, so on Sunday we were not very agreeable, but it shows how merciful God is by sending us this miracle, because after that we got along much better.

Also yesterday we had another awesome experience, we were having a family home evening with a family in the ward and they had there cousin over who is from Croatia and is not a member.  So we taught the Restoration and the cousin was super interested and said that she had seen missionaries all over Croatia for years but had never thought to talk to them before, so she will be in contact with them once she returns in a couple of days.  I also had the opportunity to give her a Priesthood blessing to help her and bless her with safety in her travels. That was a super neat experience because I had never thought that I would teach a lesson and give a blessing to a Croatian!  That was a once in a life-time experience! the Spirit was super strong and she noticed that she felt different after the blessing and the lesson, the Spirit also testified to me that we had just planted that seed of faith in her heart that will be harvested by missionaries in Croatia, and that she will be baptized some day.  So it was a great testimony builder for everyone that was there.

On Halloween last week our ward did a trunk-or-treat, and they wanted us to come to visit with non-members that would show up.  We found that the most effective way was to visit every car and get to know everyone, and by so doing we met alot of non-members who were interested and got some candy:)  It's a win-win situation:)

Well that's all the time I have for today, I love you all and wish you all the best!

Much love from the ghetto missionary,

Elder Spencer Bailey