August 29, 2011 Letter

Dear most fantastic, wondersome, loveliest, fantabulousest, creativest, smartest, patientest, perfect Mother in the world!

Well Hi mom!!! I have news.....

My Baptism did go through!!!!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!! Boyman is amazing and now he is officially a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His baptism was a bit of an ordeal. We realized that the Stake Center didn't have any clothes, so we had to go to the other building to find some, but first we had to get the keys from our Ward Mission Leader, then run to the church builiding, realize the door isn't even locked and therefore we didn't need the keys (curse the fact that we wasted time!), run back to the stake center, get Boyman ready, and then take pictures which I am sending you today! I am so thrilled! His baptism was great and you could really feel the spirit. His parents were there and they were really happy for him. I wonder if they will learn now? Then his confirmation...man Satan, he just loves to make things crazy! Boyman was a little bit late to church and when the man stood up to announce that we were confirming him, he wasn't there! So you hear from the crowd, "He's not here!" Then the guy says, "Oh, well I guess we aren't doing that now, we are doing it later...we will now procede with the Sacrament." I then had to text Boyman to make sure he wasn't dead or unsure of the time! I didn't want to freak him out and I didn't know what to say, so I sent him a text saying, "Hey boyman, how are you?" He replied "Oh I'm good, just running late today!" He totally knew what we were after. He made it in time though and we did get him confirmed! It was amazing! Afterwards I was talking to him and he was saying that he could never deny this church was true! He said when they were confirming him he could just instantly feel it! He said it's a feeling he has never felt before in his life and a feeling he could never deny! He is awesome! I am so excited for him. It was basically the best weekend ever.

Bad news... President called me Friday night. I answered the phone very hesitantly. You never want President to call you during board week--it's a bad sign. Our conversation went like this: "Hi, this is Sister Bailey." "Hello Sister Bailey this is president Sagers." "Hi President....How are you?" " 'm good Sister Bailey." "Good to hear President" *cue Strong desire to hang up right then* "Well Sister Bailey are you willing to do whatever the Lord asks you?" I replied, "Of course President Sagers, you ask me that every interview." "Yes I do Sister Bailey. Now Sister Bailey, the Lord has called you to train this transfer, can you do that?" "UMM....*insert a weight on shoulders and deep fear in heart* Of course President Sagers, I will try my hardest!" "Sister Bailey, there is no trying in this. You always remember your trainer and the things she taught you." "Yes President, I sure do." "Well then Sister Bailey, you're going to have to do it and do it well." "I will President." *cue shaking in the voice.* "Then have a good night." "Thanks. You too President." *hang up phone, long sigh, hang head, doubts fly* So some of that phone conversation may have been slightly different. That is all I can remember. All I know is I am terrified!! What if I completely screw this girl up! We always talk about our trainers. What if she hates me? I don't want to be awful. I feel so unready and so not trainerish. I wanted to be a Junior Companion this next transfer! I honestly don't know what or how to do it. All I know is I am going to work hard and be obedient and hope for the best! I never thought it would be this stressful. I thought people were crazy when they said they were freaked out. I remember when Sister Terry told me she was freaked out when she found out she was training and I was like, "why?" Now I know. It's like this huge weight placed on your shoulders! I am a little stressed too with everything I need to get done beforehand as well. Maybe I am just crazy. It's entirely possible.

Other than that the week is good. I get to meet my new companion on Wednesday. That will be crazy. I am stressed...have I told you that?

I can't think of anything else too crazy to tell you! That's about it. We had a good week. We worked hard and we saw miracles. I loved it. I love miracles. We weren't able to see girlie this week but we did contact her with the phone. I am worried about that. She said she got another job so she is really busy. I am really praying that she won't disappear. She was doing so good!

I am glad to hear that Tosha and everyone was ok. I heard there was an earthquake and a hurricane; it made me worry! I hope the water doesn't take them away like Anna says. She is so funny! She is such an overexaggerator! Just like her mom :) Love you Tosh!

I am glad that everyone else is doing well! I want to see pictures of cute Lauren in her cheer uniform! I bet she is adorable! I will keep Grandma Edith in my prayers. That is awful! I hope that everything works out ok. She is so amazing! I can't imagine anything getting her down! That is so cool McKall is going to DC for an internship. That sounds amazing. I am a little jealous.

Well mom, I love you lots and lots. I think you are amazing! And happy anniversary!!! I am so glad you and dad got married 27 years ago~! Man what a long time! I am lucky to have such amazing parents. Good thing you found eachother. I love you lots and lots!

Loves hugs and kisses,

love. Sister Bailey

August 22, 2011 Letter

Dear Most Fantastic, awe inspiring, splendidist, smashingist Mother ever, Well, this week has been great. My dream has been to see someone change becuase they feel it and desire to do it even before we say anything about it, and guess what? I have seen it! First with our girl investigator...I will call her girlie...On girlie's old teaching record it said she didn't want to take out her piercings and that was part of the reason that she dropped them. We decided we wouldn't worry about it because she needed a testimony first. Also, when we met her, her eyes were dark, she didn't smile much, and she said her brain never stopped--she never felt peace. Well this week we went to teach her on Wednesday, and she didn't have any of her piercings in...I thought hmmm.....maybe its just a fluke. We had this great lesson! It was amazing and the next time we met her, she didn't have them in again. She seemed so much happier; she kept smiling and she said she had been praying and that it was going really well! It has been amazing to see her change. I can't even tell you. I feel like I am doing it so much injustice right now! But it's amazing! She set a baptism date for Sept. 19. She said that is her birthday and she can't think of a better present she could get. She prayed about it and everything. Isn't that awesome! I am so excited about it. She is amazing! The other one is our boy investigator....boyman....Well, we taught Boyman for the first time on Thursday, and he was amazing! Everything he said was perfect! I really think he might already be a member and this is just one big practicle joke...hmm....He told us he had been reading the Book of Mormon and was praying beforehand so he could understand it. He loves Nephi! He was actually quoting the scriptures to us in our lesson! He told us that all week he had been looking forward to our meeting! He wanted to just fall asleep and wake up on Thursday! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes...so we invited him to be baptized this Saturday, the whatever the date is this Saturday....and he said...YES!!! So guess what...yep thats right, Sister Bailey gets to see her very first ever baptism this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know it's going to be epic. I swear, President is going to call this week and ET me on friday so I won't be able to see it...that is totally my luck. But I am being positive about it and having faith that I will actually see one baptism. I am so happy! We met with Boyman again on Saturday and he was still so good, but he seemed a little different. At the end I said to him, "Are you tired boyman?" And he said, "Yeah a little, I stopped drinking caffeine on Wednesday, but each day is getting a little better." We were like, "Uhhh what? Why?" And he said because we aren't supposed to! We haven't even taught him the Word of Wisdom yet!!! Well we have now; we taught it yesterday, but at the time we hadn't! It was amazing!! He was telling us how we need to be different because we should be following the example of Jesus Christ and how we are a different people. We just sit there with our jaws hanging open. He is amazing. So we are dunking him on Saturday. I am so so excited! Man...it's awesome! Well, other than that, nothing too great over here. We are just working hard and trying not to die in the heat. We had zone conference this week. It was so amazing! I got to see Sister Quiroz! That was so fun! Man I miss her! President is so funny! He gets going on things and just makes me laugh. I honestly think he is amazing! I am so grateful to have him as my mission Presidnet. He was talking to all of us and he said something to the effect of, "I hope we are building a lasting relationship here, especially if you become wealthy and buy a cruise ship...can you tell I really want to go on a cruise? If you do get one, we should have our reunions on it!" He brought up the cruise ship like three times. It was really funny. Then he told us Sisters that when we get married, we should make sure we look nice when our husband leaves so he has something to look forward to when he comes home. I was like, "I don't know about that." We all laughed and agreed our husbands will just be lucky to have us! He is a funny President. He talked about Priesthood and the example of Jesus Christ. It was really good. I love learning about the Priesthood. It blesses my life in so many ways. How lucky are we to have the priesthood in our church! It's amazing! We are so blessed. I was talking to an Elder who has this amazing conversion story. It really is amazing and as we were talking, he asked me about me...so I told him my lame story and I realized I am a blessed brat. I told him that, and he laughed and said, "Please explain." I just realized I have everything I could ever want and/or need. I have just had it all from the time I was born. How lucky am I?! I can't believe I am so blessed. Just a random story for you there... Well I can't believe school is back in! That is crazy, didn't summer just start?! I am so happy because we only have 9 more days of August!! Praise be the Heavens, I have almost survived a Texas August...now I just need to get through September! I am so glad that everyone is doing so well. It is so good to hear. It makes me so happy. I hope that everyone has the best first week of school ever! I bet Lauren is going to have the boys lining up for her! I am glad her first game went well. I thought about her Friday night! She is so darn cute! I want to see pictures of adorable Tyson! Man he is just the cutest ever! I am truly a very lucky person! I love you all so much and I am so grateful that we have an eternal family! How lucky are we? I love you more than anything mom; you are amazing! Loves, loves, hugs, and kisses, love. Sister Bailey P.S. thanks for the addresses! You are wonderful!

August 15, 2011 Letter

Dear Most Wonderful, Fantastic, Splendiferous, Hard-Working, Gifted, Perfect Mother Ever!

Well, we had a great week! Things with my companions are good. The crazy thing is, somehow things got twisted. For the first week there was tension between me and Sister Brewer and Sister Watts was the middle person...now I have become the middle person! I don't know how this happened. How did I become the person that gets along with everyone?! Here I thought I would have all these issues with Sister Brewer and I am actually the one holding us all together! Well...it was getting exhausting. So finally on Thursday, I sat us down and made us evaluate our companionship. We laughed, we cried....just kidding, we didn't really, but we did set a goal..."work on our communication." We even set ways to accomplish our goals. I had such high hopes for us! Then it didn't work...so Sunday night rolls around and we sit down to plan and I decided it was time for the talk. So I forced everyone into sharing their feelings! It was great! I think that it has helped. Sister Brewer and Sister Watts actually talked. So that is good! Usually they just sit silently and talk when needed. I feel like this is a lot like how Sister Watts first letter home to her family was like. Hmmm...odd....funny how the tables have turned. Oh well things are getting better!

Well as for exciting things...I am taking an excerpt from my letter to dad:

Well this week we had 3 investigators just fall into our laps! It is pretty exciting! One of them really wants to get baptized. So we are excited about that. They are all singles. One of them is a former investigator who we just stopped by. She was taught 5-6 years ago and had a baptismal date. She said she is excited to learn again and....SHE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! I was so happy! Man, it was really exciting! I love when people come to church. It is so awesome! Especially singles, because it starts at 8:30. Dedication right there.

The other one is dating a member, but he really wants to learn. He told us that he was praying for a way to get an "in" or for direction on how he could start learning what he needs to do to get baptized. Well I knew who he was, so we were following him to see if he would walk to his girlfriend and we could unawkwardly have her introduce us...he didn't do what I wanted so finally I just walked up to him and said, "This might sound stalkerish, but your Braxton right?" He said, "Yes." I was like, "Awesome. Well, we are the missionaries! We heard you might want to learn from us." He got so excited he was like, "YES! You just answered my prayers." It was really exciting. We set up a time to meet with him and then found out his girlfriend couldn't make it. We asked him if he wanted to change the day so she could be there and he said, "No, I don't want her to be my crutch; I am doing this for me!" That was so awesome! Man excitement!

The third is named Bianca and she is also a former investigator. Sister Watts and Sister Mitchell tried to get in contact with her, but it didn't work out...then one day we are driving along and she texts us! YAY! Yesterday she was like, "I have time today; do you want to meet?" We said..."...Ummmmmm....HECK YES WE DO!" So we went and met with her. She has had a lot going on and wants to improve her relationship with her Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the lesson she said she didn't want to read the Book of Mormon, because she didn't see how it could help her and she didn't need a book. By the end she was so excited to read it! It was pretty awesome. I think she is coming to FHE tonight. That will be good! Keep your fingers crossed!

Other fun news for the week: We met a prophet...yes, a prophet...well I guess if we want to get technical he is a prophet in training. God spoke to him and told him that he would be a prophet. His name is Gary...doesn't that just sound good...Prophet Gary....yeah.....It was pretty funny he told us he did a study on Amos 3:7 and Sister Watts gets all excited and is like "OH, so do you think there could be a Prophet on the earth today?" And he yells excitedly right in her face, "I AM A PROPHET!" She then had to wipe away the spit...it was pretty much HILARIOUS! He was crazy!! I am sure that some serious amounts of drugs have been consumed in his life. Then we met another lady who was intrested and invited us in....until she wasn't interested anymore and invited us out. All in all, very productive! Yay for crazy people! They make a missionary's week exciting!

Of course the Manions would be cousins with Libby and Cori....who isn't related to Libby and Cori?! Good heavens, those women know everyone! That is exciting you got to meet them. They are really nice and we did sleep over at their house our first and second night. They have very comfortable beds...I kinda miss them now....sigh....I miss my bed...sigh...my bed here looks like a shark took multiple bits out of it...its not the most comfortable bed!! But hey, at least I have a bed.

So question for suz...can you get on my facebook and get David Folkners Address...my companionis curious if he is single and can she write him. she apparently loves nerds and he is about as nerdy as it gets! Also I personally want Bhall and Jacobs addresses....could I get those?! I need to ask for forgiveness and get them to agree to not get married for a bit...:) Another side note...Bro. Dickamore is sending me hate letters because there is no updates on the blog...so...talk to him about that :)

We are going to have another great week! I am excited! I am glad to hear that everyone is doing so well....tell McKay that under no circumstance is he allowed to get married...at all...period...end of story! I am glad his photo business is doing so good. It sounds like it is really good! That is awesome! He is so amazing! I am sad that I am missing Lauren's first football game! She is going to be so cute! I am excited for her! Good luck! Give 'em heaven! Tell Tyson I love him more than anything!

Well other than that I don't have any other news! I hope that everyone has a fantastic week! I love you all so so so so so so so so much!

Loves, hugs, and kisses,

love. Sister Bailey

August 8, 2011 Letter

Dear Most Amazing, Fantabulous, Seriously Wonderful, Spiritual, Perfect Mother,

I am so lucky to have you!

Well I am glad to hear that everyone is doing good. I hope dad is ok. Is he really sick? Is it still just that stupid stuff he has?

First of all, we did not ruin that song for you! It was lame from the very beginning! That song is awful; Dad and I were the only ones brave enough to point it out! You have to admit it is pretty lame. Who wants a rainbow over their mother. I mean, that would make me feel like the worst mother in the whole wide world. If my kid was happier with a rainbow than me, I would beat him....I would never choose a rainbow over you!

I can't believe that Suz kissed someone! She didn't even tell me! I am with Tosha...she wonders why she's not in the sisterhood. And then won't tell anyone in the Sisterhood whats going on with her. That little girl! She is too cute! I love her and I miss her. She is funny. I can't believe she turned down her trip--that is hysterical. She is funny.

I am glad McKay is staying busy. Is he doing ok? Who is he hanging out with? What's going on with him? Does he seem a little down? I hope he is ok. I love him lots and lots. I miss my little brother.

I am glad Tyson is doing so good. Dang he is adorable! I just love my family! I feel so grateful to have everyone. They just all mean the world to me! I can't believe school is starting so soon! I feel like it just got out! How crazy.

Well it is hot here! The current record for most 100+ degree days in a row is 42 and they are saying we might break it this week! We have had so many, I want to break it now! It is crazy how hot it can get! I am amazed! I feel like I am melting.

We are working on finding more people to teach right now. We all want to be working hard and that is good. We just need to start doing more. We are working, it's just not as much as we each want. I am working on getting some goals and a vision in place for us. I feel like we need to have a vision of what we want to accomplish by the end of the transfer and be constantly working towards it. I hate to say this but I love goals. Oh man they make me happy. I love to set them and accomplish them. It's a little hard because Sister Watts doesn't seem to be so goal driven. When we start to talk about it, she won't talk about it and she just starts playing with things, or she gets up and leaves, or she changes the subject. So that's a bit hard but it's ok. We will work it out. I can't function without goals to work towards so she's just going to have to muddle through it!

Well I can't think of anything too exciting...Oh, I went to ZMCs which is a leadership conference that President has with all the Zone-Leaders. It was so good! I loved it. He is amazing. I learned a lot of great stuff there. He talked a lot about goals and our view of things. He showed us a picture and asked us what we saw. Everyone gave an answer and he was like, "Why aren't we picturing the good? We need to start picturing things more positive." It was really awesome. I loved it. I have an amazing Mission President! And I am so excited because Zone Conference is next week. It's the best! I love spiritual highs! And that is what Zone Conference is!

Well other than that, not much else to report. We have had a couple bumps this week but everything is working out good! Sometimes it's hard being in a trio because you have to try and make everyone happy. Thats a little rough. It's hard too, because I feel like everything is resting on me. When I see President he always reminds me I'm the leader. It's hard I feel like I have so much put on me and I want to be good, but at times I feel like I epically fail. I have been reading about Christ's life though and he always talks about "he who is greatest among you should be your servant." That is what I am focusing on--just serving my sisters. I love reading The Gospels. Christ's life is amazing and so full of examples for us. Sometimes when I read it, I can just feel this overwhelming love He has for me and for each of us. It's amazing to me. I am so grateful for my Savior. I love Him so much and I am so grateful that I get to be out here serving Him. I love having His name over my heart. I only hope I serve Him good enough.

Well family, I love you all so so so so much! I think you are amazing and I think I have the BEST family in the whole wide world! I don't know why I am so lucky!

I love you mom!!! Way too much!! More than you will ever know!!

Loves, hugs, and kisses,

love. Sister Bailey

August 1, 2011 Letter

Dear Paul and everyone else who hasn't got to read Kiley's letters for 3 weeks,

I am sorry. Please forgive me! I will do better to post these the day she sends them. Life gets hectic and I read them and go on, forgetting that the rest of you rely on her blog to read her letters... so I vow to do better. :) Just don't send hate-letters or throw bricks through my window. I would appreciate that :)

Sincerely,

JaRelle

Dear Most Amazing, Fabulous, Wonderful, Awe-Inspiring, Best Example, Fantastic, Beautiful Mother,

I am lucky to have you I think...well I know. I love you lots and lots. Your emails mean so much to me. I love reading them and hearing that everyone is good. It brings me so much peace! It is odd, during the week I don't worry, but on Monday when I read your letters I realize how dependent I am on them to make the rest of my week good. They help me to not feel worried. I am glad you just sat down and read a book. You deserve it. Sometimes I miss that. But there is work to be done right now and in some future date I will attempt to be lazy and read a book.

Yesterday of course, was Sunday and I was sooo tired! We attend 2 church meetings...it's a little rough ok!? But we were sitting in our second sunday school and the teacher had a very monotone slow voice..it's kinda funny...and I closed my eyes for just a second and suddenly I was in the half dream world where I can hear what they are saying, but it doesn't fully register in my mind. Well, Brother Pegram (the teacher) asked a question about service and somebody started to answer it, and suddenly in my head I thought of this great answer I should share with the class it was, and I quote, "Sometimes I wish I was a Demi-God." Hahahahaha, luckily I stopped myself right before I said it and I didn't actually say it out-loud. That does not make any sense whatsoever! I told Sister Brewer and Sister Watts about it and they laughed pretty hard. Now we will be sitting somewhere and randomly some one will say "Sometimes I wish I was a Demi-God," and we all start to laugh...oh man, I am so glad I didn't say that out loud. That could have been embarassing! Everyone would think the new sister was crazy. Well I am...but that doesnt matter.

Aunt Gayle needs to learn you can never get away from McKay; he is too amazing! I want to see his pictures so bad! I am sure they are absolutely beautiful. He is amazing!

Well not alot is going on here. We are starting to find people to teach, but it's slow. We need to find more! One of our investigators texted us and it said, "Hello Watts, I was in jail and just got out today. I am now in Dallas, but I miss you sisters and I love you." Yeah thats pretty not awesome! I don't know what to do about him. He talks a lot of talk, but no action. We may need to drop him.

We taught a lady named Laurie this last week. She is a part-member family and her husband is slightly less-active. She is solid; we invited her to be baptized and she said yes! We are going to try and set a date with her this week when we see her on Tuesday. When we asked when we could stop by again she said Tuesday, so fast! It was awesome. She is really solid. She was on 1 Nephi 17 when we met with her on Thursday. Her Husband said he was going to start reading it with her. That is so cool. It would be awesome to see him come back as well. Plus, his daughter is old enough to get baptized. How cool would it be to have his wife and daughter get baptized on the same day! AWESOME!

Ummm...any other cool news.... it's weird being in a singles ward still. We go to institute on Thursdays...I kinda want to put my name on the roll and try to get credit for that...hey, less school when I go home! Is that legal? :)

Umm I am going to ZMCs this week. its a leadership training thing and since we as sisters can't really hold leadership positions...dang that lack of priesthood authority...president invites 2 sisters to attend every time. So I am excited about that. It should be fun. I will let you know how it goes next week.

I can't really think of anything else. It is just work as usual. No rest for the wicked here. It's still pretty dang hot. I think I might melt. And Sister Watts makes us turn off our AC everytime we leave the apartment during the day so when we come home at night our house feels like a dang oven! I sweat for half of the night! Last night I was so hot I woke up and sweat was honestly rolling down my face...it's disgusting! I hate when it rolls down my back...SICK!

I am glad that everyone is doing well! I have an amazing family! I love you all so so much! I can't even tell you how much everyone means to me! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have you as my family. I love you!

Loves hugs and kisses,

love you lots and lots and lots and lots,

love. Sister Bailey

P.S. I did get the package you sent me! That shirt was so cute. I wore it yesterday because it was Sunday so it wouldn't get nasty and sweaty! I loved the pictures; they were so cute! I was kinda sad there wasn't one of the whole family! I want to see everyone! How tall is Tyson now? I love you! You're amazing mom; thank you so so much! Also, I love the little wallet--I use it. It's really nice.