February 28th letter

Her letters make me miss my mission so much! About the things that she is experiencing, I once said, "Only on the mission." Ha ha, I love it! The crazy bugs, people getting anti-Mormon advice, family members at home getting hurt, crazy storms that keep you up all night (and making you want to throw your 6 a.m. alarm clock at the wall), and all along realizing that these experiences were strengthening my faith in the Lord. :) Ah, the good ol' days of the mission. I wish I were there with her. :) Anyway, here is her letter:

February 28, 2011

Dear wonderful and amazing Mother,

See how I limited myself to just two descriptive words? I could go on and on and then run out of time to write my letter! Well, that is way lame that the envelope got there empty! Just my luck now I have some postal service person somewhere between here and Utah that is obsessed with me! I swear...haha. I will go to Walgreens today and see if I can have them sent to your Walgreens. That sounds like a good idea!

I sent Dave and JaRelle a postcard last week; I hope they got it. I will email JaRelley back after I write you and Dad. Tell Tosha that she is in trouble because she didn't send me an email today! I am so sorry Dave broke his ankle! That sounds so awful! Boy I thought me being on a mission was supposed to protect y'all! I will take that up with the person upstairs who made me come out here! If I have to be here, He needs to be watching out for the people I love back home. I know that he is watching out for y'all though. I think he gets tired of me pleading for my family back home! It's strange how He blesses our lives in the weirdest way. Maybe Dave will go there and think, "Wow, this Dr. does something cool," and realize that he wants to be an orthopedic surgeon and then someday down the road when him and JaRelle are rich and successful he will think, "Good thing I broke my ankle that day." ...unless he already decided what he wants to be and then the broken ankle thing is just a really big pain in the butt!! I think I can still somewhat legally say that word...

I cannot believe that Casey is home!! That is so crazy! Did y'all go to his homecoming? How is he? Is Sandy so happy to have at least one of her boys back? I am sad that I am missing seeing all these boys come home. It is weird. I am glad Bennion is doing well. It is so strange having them come home.

Ok you cant keep changing the house or when I come home I will have no idea where my house is! That is so fun you changed the bathroom. I bet it looks so good! I want to see what it looks like! What color of blue did you paint it? Are you loving your new couches? Does that room look way good? Is it nice not having to sit on the cofee table anymore? Did you end up keeping them both? It is so strange knowing that things are changing at home and that I am not around to see them. Sometimes when I think, "How in the world am I going to make it?" I stop and realize, "Wow, I have already made it almost 2 months." It is so weird that it has been 2 months since I have seen you Mom. I think if I can make it this almost 2 months and not realize that much time has passed, I can make it the rest of the way...because you know 2 months is just so much like 18 months right?! :)

It sounds like Dad is doing better. I cant believe he made your bed 2 days?! And how on earth did you get him to cook the steaks?! What kinda drugs is he on? Just kidding. Dad is the very best in the whole wide world and he does so much! I cant believe how lucky I am to have him as a Dad. I don't think you both know what amazing parents you are. I am really the luckiest Sister in the world! I love your emails mom they are the best. I dont ever want them to end!

So I guess I should share some stories now, huh? Well last night they had this huge storm! You know how they say everything is bigger in Texas? Well, they are right and that includes weather! It woke me up last night and I stayed awake for the whole storm! It rained so hard and the thunder was so loud! We had 50-mile winds. I just sat there thinking, "Please, oh please, oh please dont let us get a tornado!" I am so dang scared of Tornados now! We have this really sweet lady in our ward. Her name is Sister Coombs. She is awesome and going through a really hard time right now so we stop by and check up on her. Plus she is kinda inactive..but anyway. Everytime we stop by her house I have to brace myself because I never know what kind of creepy story she is going to tell. The first time I met her she went off about the Fire Ants, Triggers (which are nasty bugs that get in your skin! EWWWW!), and then last but not least, snakes. She just went off about these bugs and the snakes and how awful they are and I thought, "I am never going to be able to make it through a summer. I need to go home." Then the next time she starts telling us the most creepy ghost stories in the world. I had to recite my purpose, and my missionary commission, as well as all the principals and sub principals in the first lesson that night to fall asleep because I was so scared. Then the next time she goes off on...yep tornados. She told us the most awful stories about tornados in Waco and how one of them leveled a complete subdivision and only one family survived because they had a storm shelter in their kitchen. Seriously mom, I was freaking out! Kinda like I bet you are right now. So last night we have this big storm and I am thinking, "Wow, I am going to die in a tornado tonight." I am a worry wart, I know. But guess what? There wasn't a tornado and I am still alive, so that is all good. Its just crazy because at night they say you cant see them. All you can do is listen to the radio or TV to see where it is, and guess what...we don't have a TV or radio! Yeah it's legit. But I do have the Lord and He tends to watch out for his missionaries and He is kinda powerful, so I guess I shouldn't be too scared right?

We saw our kinda-investigator Sandra last night. She has been so antid that it is hard to teach her. It is sad. I hate the anti. It's just not nice! Plus it is so not true! She asked why we don't have the gold plates because its not like we could destroy them. And she needed proof. We finally had to ask her how she knew the Bible was the Word of God. She hasn't seen what it was written on, she never met the prophets. She said she just knows because she feels it and sees it all around her. Well guess what.. it's the same thing with the Book of Mormon! Yeah, good thing the spirit guides us or I think I would have gone crazy and she wouldn't want to see us again. We are going by again tonight to show her a clip of Thomas S. Monson. Hopefully it will help.

Well the work is progressing... kinda. But thats ok! We just have to keep working hard and we will be blessed.

I love you too much mom! And I miss you! Oh also, I kinda need a pair of short garments and a garment top. I run out and then have to roll my long ones and wear the same top twice... I dont know why? Its weird. Also maybe could you check my checking account. I got the things I needed but umm... I think it should be good... and I love you...and I'm on a mission! (Dad tell her how cute that is!) I swear I am done using it! I promise! I just needed some skirts because my one is too hot now, and the other really cute plaid one is too short. I am good though, and these will last the rest of the mission. I love them. They are super cute! So you know how they said they have 4 seasons? Well they do! They go like this Spring: March-May, Summer: June-September, Fall: October- January, and Winter February. Haha seriously February is cold! And then its not anymore. Yep one month winter. If they didnt have snakes and bugs I could live here forever! But I wont because I like being by my mommy! Well ok, I love you! I miss you!!

I love you too much mommy!!!!!!!

Love/ Sister Bailey