March 26, 2012 Letter

Dear wonderful amazing, splendid, rocking, talented, hard working mother,

Man you are such a good example to me. I just want you to know that. Well its transfer week already. Can you believe that? Does anyone feel like it has already been six weeks? Pretty dang crazy! I am leaving the good old town of Denton. Yep, I have out lived my last shinanagans here. It's a good thing too! I love this place, but it is crazy. There is definitely something in the water! I will be pink washing (that means we are kicking elders out!!!) into Flowermound with Sister Reynolds. I hear Flowermound is a pretty wealthy area...I'm nervous about that. And I am back in a family ward! I am happy but a little nervous! I have gotten used to young people. Families are intimidating. My new address is:

5210 Long Prarie Rd.

#1626

Flowermound, TX 76039

I am nervous but excited. It is going to be good. But still.....slightly nervous.

Well bad news bares. The Ex didnt get baptized. It was the biggest bummer ever! He went to Padre last week and when he came back he told us he didn't feel ready for baptism. It was depressing. Stupid Satan and stupid vacation! He hadn't told his parents yet and I think that was a really big factor. He is really afraid of that. I feel like he let fear govern his choice. I hate fear! I hate that it stops people from doing what they should. I am so grateful that I didn't let my own fears keep me from serving a mission. It has been the best ever. Man I have learned a lot. The sad thing is I feel like I haven't changed as much as I should. I still feel like silly little imperfect me. Aren't I supposed to feel all righteous and good? Well I'm still not. I guess it's a constant work in progress. If we all became perfect on our missions no one would ever go home...we would all be translated!

Well other than that, nothing to crazy is going on. This is so funny about little Peyton. She is a kindred spirit to her Aunt Nunu. Suz did both of those things. I still remember when she came out and shouted "I'm Mulan!!" Oh man....I thought I was in trouble. Her hair turned out cute. Whatever you do, do not let JaRelle cut Peyton's hair in a nasty mullet like a certain someone we all knew....man I felt bad for that kid. That mullet was disgusting! Oh man, see I am so unchristlike!! I will repent...but I am leaving that in my email because It is true...sorry I will repent.

I am glad to hear everyone is doing well. You are amazing mother! I am sorry you have to work so much. If you weren't so talented and such a good worker they wouldnt have you work so much! What is the project you are working on? I am glad to hear that dad is still a rocking golfer! I think I could be good at golf..it's not a height biased sport thing (is golf a sport?) so maybe....I dont know if I want to learn though....I don't know if Dad would teach me...hmmm that could get sketchy.....

I am glad that Anna is ok I have prayed for her all week!

Well I will let you know how things are next week. For now I am hating my life...packing stinks! And I feel ADD so packing REALLY Stinks! That might be why this letter is short...ADD. It's no bueno. I blame Dad. :)

Well mother, I love you too much and I miss you lots! Let me know if you need anything! I love love love love you and thank you for everything that you do for me! Thanks a bazillion!

loves hugs and kisses,

love. sister bailey

March 19, 2012 Letter

Dear wonderful, fantastic, talented, hard working, problem solving ;), best mother in the whole world!

Hi mom! Haha, so I got the problem solving from your title. Wow, you sound so fancy--you are an executive assistant & problem solver. That sounds fancy (said in Wisconsin accent) You are pretty amazing.

Well I am glad to hear that everyone is doing so good. I can't believe Lauren is going to Prom. That is crazy! I still haven't seen pictures from when she went to Christmas! (yes that is a hint that you should send more pictures! ) She is getting so old. When did that happen? It's strange. Has she figured out what she is going to do next year? Is she for sure not doing cheer?

I hope everything is ok with Anna. I think it will all be ok. I will keep her in my prayers though. Tosha is so funny. Have her just tell Anna that if she doesnt start listening better she will shock her. Thats always seemed to work when she was in the belly.

I got some really cute pictures of Peyton and Jarelle and Dave. They are so fun! They all look so different. It's weird. Why is everyone changing?

PS how did Aunt Lori get pictures of me? What pictures are they? I am sure they are so pretty because I take so many good pictures...:) I finally got a charger for my camera!!! I am so happy! My camera has been dead for the last 3 months. I can finally take pictures again, I jumped for joy when it charged. It was one of the happy days.

Lets see...anything exciting going on here. Ex is getting baptized this week! We are so excited! I feel like it really is going ot happen. We have waited forever and a half for this! He still hasn't told his parents which is slightly no good. But I know that it is all going to work out.

Its spring break this week so it looks like a ghost town again. Its amazing how quickly this place can clear out! That takes talent.

Oh also tell the Fergusons that there is an unhappy missionary! Ok don't tell them that...I am happy I really am. I am just sad that I am going to miss it. Grandma spilled the beans about Ferg. Thats pretty fun. And weird. I feel so weird that my friend is getting married. I don't know why it's weird for me to have her get married. It just is.

Hmm...I dont think I have any funny stories from this week. Oh yeah, so yesterday I was feeling a little pissy, and during personal study I flip open my preach my gospel. I knew that I wanted to study christlike attributes (because I stink at them), but I didnt know which one I wanted to study. So I flip open to that chapter close my eyes and pick a random page. Then I sit there with my eyes closed turn my preach my gospel over, and then open my eyes. Guess what I picked? Yep...charity and love. God really does have a sense of humor. And he loves to pick on me. I told him I got the hint but it wasn't helping any. I had to laugh a little bit about that.

Also I had a dream one night that I was home from my mission and I was driving somewhere with Lauren. She did something and I yelled at her. I felt so bad in my dream. I was like I shouldn't be yelling at my little sister--that's not very Christlike. I need to go study preach my gospel more. I woke up from the dream and was like what the? Apparently I am not getting the hint! Still so much to work on.....somedays I contemplate why I cant be perfect? Wouldn't that just make life easier?

Well thats about it. Nothing too crazy. Maybe we will have a more exciting week this week. We will see. Everyday is different here. Its strange.

Well thanks for everything you do! I love you so much and miss you like crazy! I think you are the best mother ever!!

loves loves you!!

loves loves hugs kisses

love. sister bailey

March 12, 2012 Letter

Dear poetic, bright, beautiful, wonderful example to me mother,

Hi mom! I did have a great week! Did you have a good week? It sounds like it was good! Today I am feeling very un typingy. Sometimes I look forward to when I dont have to sum up everything in emails. Talking is so much easier and we all know I am way more proficient at talking! :) I do have a mouth....sometimes I think I talk to much. Oh well.

That is such a neat story about Tyson. He is such a good boy. I hate the feeling of knowing you did something wrong. But what a good learning experience for him! You are such a great teacher mom. I love how you taught all of us. Repenting is so much fun too. Even though its hard in the moment isnt it amazing that we have a way that we can be forgiven of our sins and are able to feel clean again? Can you imagine if we didnt have repentance? How awful would that be. Something I have learned about Repentance as I have studied it is that its not just something we do. Repentance shapes us into what God wants us to become. Repenting is literally turning our heart to God. Giving him our will and as we give our will to him we lose our desire to sin again and become a little bit more like the Savior. Isnt that so neat. Its like what Elder oaks said about when we are judged its not just a sum total of the good and bad things we have done it is what we have become. Repenting is what helps us become what we should be. I love that. It makes repentance seem so much better doesnt it? God really does love us. Its so great that sweet cute Tyson gets to learn that. And you are amazing for teaching him. I hope I can be as good a mom as you someday.

Whose marriage did Dad preform? There is someone learning about the lessons in our ward? How cool! That is so neat to hear about the gospel being spread in our area. Its so funny how before my mission I never thought about our home area being apart of a mission. I never thought about finding people to learn. I just wandered around in my own little bubble thinking everyone was a mormon and happy. Now I think about all the people who arent and all the people who are but dont have the happiness it brings. Its so great to hear someone is finding it right now where we live. And that you get to be a part of it! You are so amazing mom! Keep being a good friend because that is what she really needs. I love it when ward members just walk up to investigatos and sit by them and really befriend them. Its exactly what should happen.

I am sad to hear about toshas knee. I hope she is ok! Wow she really is turning into a runner! She was going 7 miles....dang gina! I gotta get doing better. I will keep her in my prayers. I will also pray for you and your vegetarian son. Oh my goodness. Will you tell him to not be one anymore. That boy is such a dork. What made him decide to be a vegetarian? I love him so much. I am super glad you "didnt" tell me about Dave and JaRelle because they didnt email me to tell me! I would have been so annoyed to have to wait another week to find out if I am having a niece or nephew! That is so fun! What are they going to name her?

Ok well fun things from here...we went on exchange with the Spanish sisters this week. It was alot of fun! I went into their area and prayed for the gift of tongues and then guess what happened.....I still didnt understand it! I guess I need more faith or something! We taught this guy and as we taught him he started to tell us about this roof he had to fix. He was saying that it was a brand new roof, they had just put it on last year and it was already leaking again! Then he said " it must be a really chitty roof." (picture it in a heavy spanish accent) Oh man it took everything we had to not start laughing right then and there! We waited and laughed in the car. He also told us that he used to think beer was proof that God loves us.The things people say. We told him its not.

We got to sit down and have lunch with a baptist preacher. It was really neat. He was super nice and we got to talk to him about what he believes and how he became a preacher. Its all really interesting. It doesnt make any sense to me but whatever. He was talking about predestination...who honestly believes that God predestined some of his children to go to Hell. Really? Wow super loving right? People....

Ex is doing really good and I am so certain that he is going to get baptized on the 25th it is going to be such a good day! I am super excited for it. Did I tell yall about the new people we are teaching? I dont remember but I will just tell you now one is named free spirit. She is definitely a free spirit...she wants to live out of her car someday just so she can experience it. Pretty awesome. But she is amazing and is currently praying about a day for her baptism. She knows its what she needs to do she just needs to know the date. YAY! The other one is named Waiting. Waiting knows she should be baptized but her family told her if she still wants to be baptized in a couple months it will still be here for her. She shouldnt rush into anything. It would really stink to rush into all the blessings of baptism.....Man I am sounding so sarcastic today. I am sorry! I will repent. :) See Tyson your not alone I have alot to repent for too!!

It rained like crazy the past couple days and was in the 40s...it was awful! But dont worry it should be mid 70s again this week...whew I was getting worried there with that cold weather! ;)

I love you so much mom! I miss you lots! You are the bestest mother in the whole wide world!! Thanks for everything you do for me! I love love love love love you!!

love. sister bailey...your favorite missionary

March 5, 2012 Letter

Dear most wonderful, lovely, kind,caring, funny, talented, movie star mother,

Hi Mom! So Dad wrote me last week and said you are a movie star...he said it in his usual dad fashion...you know with some reference to him sleeping with a movie star. Yep thats my father! I know exactly where I get my sense of humor. Its awful. Why did I get to be so blessed with his sense of humor? Im awful. Our investigator Ex is alot of fun, he always gets me started on things. Like last night we called him to set up an appt. with him and he answered in a chinese voice...so of course I had to pretend like I was an Asian lady from china star and I took his order. After a couple of minutes of me convincing him he wanted the general tsos chicken he stopped and said those are the jokes we always take to far. I laughed and said yeah your right...sorry about that. Hahha I am awful. I cant help it. I just get on kicks. I think the real issue is I think I am so funny...its hard not to when you are as funny as i am :) Just kidding....sorta. :)

So yes I do know the Hansen kid. His name is Daniel or Danny I dont know what he goes by now. Tell him hi for me if you go back over there and see them. That is so sad about his Dad. I hope he is ok. That is awful. Tell him sorry for me as well and that I hope he is doing ok. He was supposed to serve his mission in Russia and then a week before he reported to the MTC they called him and told him his mission call was changing to Chili. So he went to Chili instead! Isnt that crazy? He is a nice kid I liked him....why did I only date one person in High school? Oh the things I did....Oh well cant change it.

I heard about Taras wedding. That is so fun. I am sure it was fabulous if aunt Lori had anything to do with it. She is amazing! We are lucky to have so many talented people in our family. I have heard how amazing Mckays pictures are. I want him to send me some that he took of Tara and her husband so I can know what they look like. Plus I want to see Mckays pictures. I have heard how amazing they are and I am bummed I dont ever get to see any! It is not making me happy! He is so cute. Is Tater tot dating anyone? How is school going? He is so smart.

Well life here is crazy as always! We had a good surprise! elder Tad R. Callister from the Presidency of the 70 was here and he wanted to meet with the missionaries. So yesterday we got to go and listen to him teach us.. He was so funny and the meeting was amazing. They did such a good job of building us up but letting us know what we can work on. He trained us on the Plan of Salvation which was amazing! and then after others trained us he finished with becoming a consecrated missionary. It was so good. There were so many great things I needed to hear. I was so grateful that I could be there. we got to see other missionaries and It was so fun. I got to see Sister Mortensen...oh man I was so happy!! I have missed her. I love seeing other missionaries. It just makes me so happy.

We taught alot of great people this week! We are seeing the work really move forward. We are taking one or two things every week that we need to work on and trying to fix it. I feel like the Lord is really blessing us as we attempt to become more obedient. It has been a little hard this week. I started to get a little sick but its not too bad. It just makes me a little more tired. But we still get out and work. That is the best feeling. We can only expect the Lord to bless us when we are doing our part.

Hmm...I dont know if I have any funny stories. While we were teaching the other day Sister Bickley started teaching about the Saviors Earthly Ministry and Atonement. She is doing great, teaching really well, and then she says "He preformed so many miracles and did alot of good like; blinding the sick, and healing the sick." It took everything I had not to giggle. Then as we walked home I was like you know sister after alot of thought and prayer I have decided that my favorite miracle He ever preformed is when He Blinded the Sick. She was like " OH MY!" It was pretty funny. We got super lost and spent an hour walking to an appt. that is only 30 minutes away. Umm....I cant think of anything else though. Nothing to crazy really.

thanks for all that you do mom! You are the best mother ever! I am so glad that I have you as my mom! i love you lots and lots! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! I love love you!!

loves loves hugs kisses

love. sister bailey