Wherein Maelynn Gets SICK!

January 29, 2018

     So this week was SUPER FUN!! It all started on Sunday afternoon when an hermana gave us chilaquiles....    yeah i think y'all know where this is going.

....So Sunday night I basically slept in the bathroom!  And Monday I was just kind of exhausted and didn't eat anything.  So on Tuesday I started feeling better, so when we went to eat with a member I decided to try to eat.

Bad. Idea.

That resulted in going home early. ;(  But then we went to branch council (which only 3 people showed up to but that's besides the point), and I got a blessing! Woo Hoo.

Then Wednesday we had a multi-zone conference and all I ate was a salad (which was delicious btw) and then Wednesday night we went to the area of Alpuyeca to have divisions (Splits) with the sister training leaders on Thursday. 

On Thursday I was feeling better again so when we went with the member to eat in Alpuyeca, I decided to try to eat again.

Even. Worse.  Idea.

Another night spent in the freaking bathroom.  We made it back to our house Friday morning by some miraccle and I rested for a couple of hours.

Then Saturday I started feeling better again so I ... jk this time I didn't want to risk it!  So I just didn't eat anything. And that was good decision,  because now I'm all good and back to eating all the good stuff I want.   Also today I bought a mountain dew!!  Yay!

Love,
Hermana Bailey

Pics and Videos: Cute puppies;  me and my Nacho Libre quoting buddy; An investigator's little turtle; Zone Conference; and me trying out boxing!

Wherein Landen Gets A New Companion!

January 29, 2018

     Hey y'all, that's super cool about the job, all grown up and working a job mom, look at you, jk that's freals super cool. Also way to go Miles, way to be a winner.

     This week was pretty cool. It was kinda long and rough, but it was also transfer week, so like on Saturday we got all of the calls telling us who was going where. Pretty crazy stuff. Elder Loveridge left.  We were together for 18 weeks straight, so its kinda weird without him here. I'm getting a new companion here in MoVal, his name is Elder Moloney. From what I've heard he's pretty cool. but yeah. 

     So we are teaching this super cool guy named Sixto right now. We actually found him street contacting and told him we'd stop by again, but also another investigating family of ours who lives across the street from him told us that we should go visit him and so we did one night and turns out almost all of his family are members.  Sixto lives with his parents, sister, and son.  And even though his parents and sister have been members for about 3 years, they have been inactive for the last two. We've only taught him a few lessons so far, but he already came with us to stake conference yesterday, and he is super excited to get baptized! 

     He wants to set a good example I guess for his son Axel.  Axel is 3 yo and he is just the craziest ball of fun - with a little devil side too.  We went over with a member a few nights ago to teach Sixto and while we were leaving we waved bye to Axel standing at the top of the stairs.  So he decided to say bye to us too, and yelled at the top of his lungs "Bye M****rF*****s" ! Both me and my companion thought that that was what we had heard the first time, but kinda wrote it off, cause he's three, there was no way he knew that word.  But then he said it again "Bye *bleepin*bleeep*s!" and again and again and again.  He said it probably 8 times before we could get out of the house and close the door. Poor Hermano Changsek had no idea what to do, his only son is 3 as well, and he seemed struck dumb.  Meanwhile me and Loveridge just started breaking up laughing as we got back in the car.  It was ridiculous, but super funny.  But like Sixto still is super cool.

      Speaking of that conference we had, it was super duper cool.  It was a regional conference, so we got it broadcasted of Elder Christoferson and Elder Kearon.  The Ruiz family was there too, so that was cool, this is already long enough tho, so I'll tell you about the Ruiz family next week. 

Love all of you guys, talk to you next week!

Elder Bailey

Wherein Maelynn Learns That Many People Don't Get Married.

January 22, 2018

      Literally, the biggest problem we have in Mexico is that NO ONE is married!  They say that its their 'husband' or 'wife' but that doesn't actually mean anything legally! There's literally people that have lived together like 50 years and just never gotten married.  Right now our only investigators that are progressing are a couple that aren't married either.  But they have a little girl so can't separate, But getting married here is kind of expensive.  Actually not really, it costs like $50 (1000 pesos), but that's a ton here!  So that's what we're working on right now.

With a member and her baby...

 Making pancakes...

 At WalMart....

 A Mesa de Materiales (table of materials) that we set up at a Tianguis (basically a giant garage sale that involves the whole colony!)

Love,

Hermana Bailey

Wherein Landen Learns That Many People Don't Get Married.

January 22, 2018
    
      Yeah to good Elders!  Tell them to teach your friends! Missionaries like it when members make the work easier for them like that.  And also make sure the kids don't learn too much Spanish from this kid from Spain when he comes, because when me and Maelynn get back we don't want dad to be the only one who cant understand the secret tongue!

     Heard about another marriage and so that's officially 3/4 of my prom dates that are now super married. lol!

      Things are going good in Moreno Valley. I'm still with Elder Loveridge. I did some math the other day and found out I've spent more time in his presence that I spent inside of Bonneville HS over all of high school! 

      The area is doing good though, Rafael got confirmed last week, he was also interviewed by the bishop and was found worthy to receive the priesthood, so he'll get that in 2 Sundays (since next Sunday is stake conference). Marco was supposed to get baptized pretty soon too (still might). 

     Marcos is another investigator that we've been teaching for a while and he's been reading a lot from the Book of Mormon, and coming to church and bringing his 4 yo daughter too. We've never actually taught his wife before, but he told us this last week that his wife started to read the Book of Mormon too, so that's cool.   Anyways, story with him is that he's supposed to get baptized on the 11th of February.  So this last Thursday we went over and taught him the law of chastity to prepare him for his interview - and lo and behold he is not married to his 'wife'.  They have a 4 yo and another one on the way and they never got married. Living together for 5 years and just never got married.  

     

     That is probably the biggest thing about Hispanic culture that I will never understand. I guess they just feel an  in-necessity of marriage.  So anyways, we have to get them married to get him baptized... but yeah, I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Love you all!

Elder Landen Bailey

Wherein Landen Baptizes Rafael!

January 15, 2018

Wait, what are the new boundaries then? Are y'all still in the third ward, or did you get switched?

      This week went pretty great though.  We got to teach quite a few people and at the end we got to finish the week baptizing one of our close friends.

      Rafael's baptism went great! Okay, so at first not so great and we were getting super frustrated.  So on Saturday afternoon (like 24 hours before the baptism) the bishop tells us that he would prefer that someone else give the talk at the baptism service (we had asked hit to give it like 6 days earlier and he had said yes, then canceled last minute).  So we were rushed struggling to find a replacement super fast. It ended up just being my companion, Elder Loveridge, that gave it (and he did super good). 

     Then the next morning, the day of the baptism, we were in ward council and we get told that the stake presidency had asked us to change the time of our baptism.  We had already reserved the font and the Stake Center for 5 that afternoon, but because of some other stuff going on in the stake they asked us to move it to 4 so we had to tell all of the members and investigators that we had invited that it was going to be changed to 4!

     On top of all that Rafael's car had broken down the day before, so we had to find members to give him rides to and from church and to and from his baptism.  Long story short, Sunday was a long day of planning and coordinating.......but, it all ended well, because Rafael still got baptized! I had the privilege of baptizing him, and it was such a wonderful experience full of tears and hugs. 

      I'm very grateful for that opportunity. Also, another funny "Elder Bailey sucks at life " story -- I totes forgot to bring an extra white shirt to the baptism, so I had to put my suit coat over top of a super wet shirt, but nobody even noticed! 

    Also it totally rained on us all of Tuesday this week, so that was super fun to go out tracting on our bikes in the rain!  People thought we were super crazy, but we had a ton of fun and a lot of success. :)

Okay, that's it for this week. Thanks for everything yall! Love you!

Elder Bailey

Wherein Maelynn Hears Lines from Her Favorite Movie!

January 15, 2018

      Hey fam, so we have a couple of investigators, Citlali and Fernando and they have a little girl that's 3 years old and they're super fun to teach because they actually like learning about the gospel and they've come to church the last 2 weeks! And the last 2 weeks our mission president has just happened to be in our branch and he has been able to help teach them in the gospel principles class and they're just super awesome.  

     And the best part is that the other day we were in their house teaching them, and the little girl, Victoria was eating her dinner and then just said "podemos ser proooooos" in a kind of funny voice,  And it took me like 3 seconds to realize that she was quoting NACHO LIBRE!!!!   Its just that my brain had a delayed reaction translating it.  Haha - but then I died laughing for a couple minutes!   Aw man, I miss that movie sooo much!

Have a killer week my friends.

 Hermana Bailey

Wherein Landen Consumes a Carolina Reaper...(and lives to feel the pain).

January 8, 2018

    Super cray cray about the ward splits. That's like the second time that's happen just since I moved out, isn't it? Or maybe they just switched up the bishopric the first time?  IDK. Plus they renovated the chapel, so even if we keep going to that building idk if I'll even recognize that ward when I get back. lol rip.

     Thanks for the updates on the little boys, I'm going to assume that Miles is still doing well, and just fell victim to the forgotten middle child syndrome. 

     I actually didn't get your Pres. Monson email, but I got the Teuscher one though and that is super dope!  Speaking of President Monson though, it was actually kinda weird. So like as missionaries we testify about modern prophets quite a bit right, and almost every time without fail when we teach that the world still has a modern Prophet today , the first question people ask is "Quien es?" (Who is it?)  

     This happened the same day that we found out about Pres. Monson passing away, and it was weird at first, but still cool to within 24 hours of President Monson passing away, we were able to testify and indirectly sustain President Nelson.  It was a testimony builder for me about the liveliness of the church, and how Joseph Smith said: "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing...It will go forth nobly, boldly, and independent." 

     It was definitely sad to hear about President T. S. Monson, but I also know that he is now on the other side of the veil working in the same work that we all have to do here on the earth still - to build the kingdom of God!  And I know that to help His living church continue to grow, and enlargen and bring the salvation of life, through Christ, to all men, God will continue to call leaders and Prophets to support and guide us until the time is accomplished   when  "...the great Jehovah will say, the work is done" (J.Smith Jr.)

     Speaking of building the kingdom of God: Idk if I've ever told y'all about my friend Rafael. Rafael is this amazing man that we have been teaching for about a month now and he is golden! He has lived alone for the past three years after his wife died (after a 7 year battle with cancer).  He has always been so nice to us, and loves to learn. We have been teaching him for the last month and it has been amazing to see his progression in the gospel, his learning, and more than anything, his repentance.  The Savior really can change lives, and bring peace and hope to our hearts and he really does do it when we let him. Rafael will be getting baptized this next Sunday, and I think the only people more excited then me about his decision to do so are God and him. He had his interview this last DdR and he came out crying tears of repentant joy as he hugged me and my companion.  Just wanted to let you know how awesome he is.

 Okay now a fun story. So there is this pepper that exists in this world called a Carolina Reaper.  It's pretty hot, you can lookup just how hot if you really want to know, but it is somewhere near the top (it is the top), and we have these members in the ward who grow then in their yard.  Super cool family named the Tenorios.  Anyways we had dinner with this family recently and they had a basket of peppers that they had grown the Hermano started to tell us about all of the different peppers in there: Scorpion peppers, Devil's Tongue peppers, Ghost peppers, and this pepper - the Carolina Reaper.  Just for fun some of us tried the devil's tongue one with our food. And it was supes hot.  But I was easily able to stomach it and overcome the mouth pain.  So I started to eyeball the Carolina Reaper. I stared at it for a while and contemplated.  

     

     Then suddenly my body acted without all of the reasoning of my mind, and I put the whole pepper in my mouth.  A quick 5 chews and it was smashed just barely enough to slide down my throat. My mouth BURNED (the first of 3 times) and it took a good 15 minutes and a lot of flan to get the burn to go away.  But eventually it did, and I went on my way.  And we went out and worked hard that night. Right after I ate it the Hermano gave me like 6 tums and I ate all of them. The tums helped for a while and I didn't feel too much pain.  Until about 1:00 the next morning when I woke up in a cold sweat and excruciating pain. My stomach was on FIRE!!! (the second of three times).  The pain didn't go away for hours and I couldn't sleep. I went in between the bathroom and my bed until about 3:30 in the morning when the pain got so bad it hurt to even lay down so I had to get up and pace around, trying to do anything to take my mind off of the pain.  

       Then after many fervent prayers I went to the bathroom again and was finally able to push something out.  And my butt crack was SCORCHED (the third of three times)... Like, hotter then my mouth ever even felt it! It was super bad, but after I got it out of my system I  was at least able to sleep. I downed an entire probiotic shake the next morning and the next day I was fine and back to normal again. But the moral of the story is: Don't eat the hottest pepper in the world. It will probably triple burn you! 

Anyways that's all I have for today, LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elder Landen Bailey 

PICS...

1: phone call with y'alls

2: sanding a helicopter down for a service project

3: the beast (see last week's letter)

4: Birthday flan

Wherein Maelynn Gets Extra Roomies in Tight Quarters!

January 8, 2018

     Hey guess what? Transfers are today but I'm staying in Chapultepec (big surprise cuz I only have 2 weeks here) and guess what!!?  They're opening up the area of Tepoztlan again (I know that's definitely not exciting for you guys) but it hasn't had missionaries for a few months - justo cuando tembló, milagro porque la casa donde viviamos se cuartió bien feo (during the earthquake it was closed which is a miracle because the house I used to live in split apart real bad)  Soooo, since they cant live in the house where we were living, they're living here in Cuernavaca with us until they find a new house!  Which sucks for them because its like an hour commute each way, and our house here is literally only 1 room, but its all good. woo hoo party! 

      So this week we found a super sweet family of old investigators (crap Landen, I forgot what you call antiguo investigadores en ingles) that are super interested!  But they have like a 20 year old son who's had a drug problem for like 2 years - literally so bad that his parents had been helping him with his addiction, but now he's in the process of detoxing with serums they inject and such. But seriously they're such a prepared family!  We get to their house and they all gathered around with their books ready to listen and they said "We know God sent you to us so we need to take you seriously and listen to what you have to teach us."  Which was honestly a little intimidating but it was a super great lesson. This area is so full of milagros! 

love you fam, 

Hermana Bailey

Wherein Landen Gets His Bike Stollen by a Dog.

January 3, 2018

Thank you all for the birthday wishes, I don't have a ton of time today, but here's a fun story that you cal all laugh at...

    It starts with me and my comp on our bikes, we were just riding our bikes to go visit some people we had had an appointment with this last Sunday afternoon, and like we always do we went to park our bikes on a street post sign (like the ones that have the names of the streets on them). 

     So we pulled up to this post on the street corner and were about to get off of our bikes when we noticed this Huge half bear/half dog sitting in the driveway of the house on the corner of the street. It was just sitting there chill so we didn't worry and I mentioned to my companion "Oh hey look, its a big dogger".  Next thing I knew he resopnded, "Uhhh, Elder, doggers not on a chain....".  

    So I turned around just in time to see this ginormous dog barreling toward me. We both book it. I drop my bike and bolt off with my helmet still on and everything, and my comp speeds away with his bike still. once we are a safe distance away, we turn back to see the dog/bear/wolf sniffing at my bike, before sitting down on the grass right next to it. the flippin' dog claimed possession of my bike! I got my bike stolen by a flippin' Dog! I tried a few times to go get my bike and each time I got close I got a growl, some straight-up neck hair, a bearing of teeth, and a loud bark and jump from the bear-wolf that told me he didn't want to give it back. 

    So me and my comp came up with a great plan....he was going to distract the dog one way, and I was going to go steal my bike back.  So we tried it, and it kinda worked, the dog went to the one side of the yard to fend off my comp, and I snuck closer to try and get the bike. We did this like 4 times, and the first three times ended up the same. I ran away as fast as I could because I was being chased by a raging mad dog who didn't want to lose his new shiny red bike. 

    Eventually after many attempts it gave up and let me take my bike back, but let's just say I was still sufficiently scarred.

Love you all!!!!!

Elder Landen Bailey

Wherein Maelynn Shares her Christmas Pics With Us!

January 1, 2018

Pics from the week before Christmas which include:

(not-so) traditional Christmas wreaths, 

Prepared Pantry pancakes and syrup, 

Squirt cheese and Wheat Thins!! 

and a hair cut from my comp...

And on Christmas day:

My christmas decor,

Skyping y'all,

Thanks for the chickfilly sauce, it saves lives ya know?