May 7, 2018
Don't get too prideful about your new rototiller Dad, that's how the Nephite nation fell. jkjk, Sounds like a cool rototiller though. Also I am in full support of the flower Idea. That'll look way cool, be sure to send the pics when they start blooming. Or I can just get Maelynn to send them to me, since she'll be home by then!
Okay, so I have some cool stories to tell you guys from this week. There are many, but 3 of them happened in 1 day, so I'm just going to tell you about everything that happened this last Friday, while I was on exchanges with Elder Beal.
So Elder Beal came to my area to work with me and we planned out a pretty good day with lots of lessons and even a PPI. So we started going for the day and our first stop after studies was to contact a referral that a member had sent us for someone that lived clear out in the boonies. Like - I kid you not, we had to go for probably 20 minutes on straight dirt roads to find this house....and that was after driving for 30 minutes to the middle of nowhere in southern Hemet! It was crazy how secluded this house was. It was on the top of a hill with no trees or anything around it and you still couldn't even see their neighbors. Twas rather cray cray.
So after finally finding it, we start driving towards it and from still a distance away, we look up to the house, and see a man walking around the front yard. Completely. Bare. Skin. Naked. Not a lick of clothing on him! So then things got so weird, and me and Elder Beal both just started laughing.... thinking that 'no wonder they live so far away from everybody, they are living on a nudist ranch and they don't expect anybody to find them'. But as another lady told us this week as well. "Mormons are dangerous, they find you where ever you go!" ...and we had now found these people too!
So we parked and we started talking to the dude, who just didn't respond at all. By this time he had sat down on a chair and was just chilling ignoring us. Finally another woman came out who we quickly discovered to be the referral we had received (she did have clothes on, don't worry, no reenaction of the Other Side of Heaven happening here). She them went back into her house before coming and talking to us, got a pair of pants and put them on the man on her way to talk to us.
The story ended more tranquilo. Turns out the desnudo (naked guy) was actually her severely autistic grown-up son who had just gotten out of the shower and was going on a wander walk without any clothing. We had just timed our arrival time just wrong. But it made for a good story anyways. turns out she wasn't very interested in the message. But she was very nice.
Then later on that day we had another lesson with the Enriques Family. They are doing super well and progressing and everything. They still haven't come to church yet, but they have all been reading the Book of Mormon a ton. The Daughter Alandra (she's 9) is already into third Nefi and is super enveloped in her Historias del libro de mormon con illustractiones. She actually super confused me in the lesson cause she asked me a clarifying question if Helaman was the father of Lehi y Nefi. and I was like: "What? No, Lehi is Nefi's dad, whatchu talkin about?" (not with those words) cause I thought she was still at 1 Nefi, but then my comp stepped in and clarified with more understanding. Haha
But get this. We had the dad read 3 Nefi 27 in preparation for the lesson we were going to have about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he read it and loved it and started telling us all bout how he agreed that the Church of Christ should be called by the Name of Christ and that many churches these day are named after other saints or preachers or whatever thing and how that's not how it is supposed to be. It is God before everyone. He quoted the 1 commandment "No other Gods before me" and told us how he told his mother and his wife about all that he had learned about how to put God first in everything, especially in the name of the Church. He is truly (very slowing might I say) gaining a testimony about the Book of Mormon, and about the truth it contains. Many people might not agree with the books origins, or with its differences from the Bible or with even the History it shares, but I add my testimony to all others who have read it, that those who read it with an open heart, can not deny the doctrine that it teaches. For it is true. What it teaches is the pure and complete Gospel of the Kingdom that Christ taught. it has power to change lives and soften hearts, and as a servant of the Lord I have had the blessed opportunity to see it do so on many occasions with many people. Roses are red, the book is Blue, I know it's true, How about you? Testimonies of Christ and of His Church are Founded upon the Gospel that He taught - found in this Book. And I would invite all of you to read it, to ponder it, and to pray about it. Cause God answers Prayers, and he will answer yours. Also, fun side note, I was able to finish reading the LDM (Libro De Mormon) completely in Spanish this last week on my hump day, so that was super cool!
Then the last story from that day comes late at night. We had a PPI scheduled with the Zone leaders for 8:30 at night so that we could get done and home on time, but they showed up pretty late and we didn't get started until like 9:00pm. Then when the interview ended, some of the sisters on bike asked us if we could help them fix their bikes, so we had to follow them over to their apartment to fix their broken bikes in the apartment parking lot. When all that was said and done, we didn't actually make it home until 10:00pm - way past mission curfew! And as we were filling out the daily car report before going inside, one of our neighbors named Gary showed up. He was pulling out in his car and waved us over to him. Now Gary's our friend, we talk almost every time we see him, but tonight he was blasted drunk and crying - because his life was in shambles and he was pleading for help. So, through the passenger window of his car we testified to him about Gods Love, the Atoning Power of Christ, and even about the Book of Mormon. We Gave him a book and he said he'd read it. Then we moved the lesson into convincing him not to go off to whereever he was going in his car (cause he was way too drunk to be safe). After about 5 minutes of convincing he turned his car around, parked it, then thanked us for helping him before going to his apartment and going to bed. So ultimately we didn't even make it to our apartment until 10:30. Wayyyyyyyy too late. Yes it was technically disobedient, but I feel it was guided by God as well, cause if the Zone leaders hadn't shown up late, or if the sisters bikes hadn't broken, we wouldn't have been pulling in right as Gary was pulling out, and we wouldn't have been able to help him. (More to the Gary story later too, btw, cause the return appointment we set up with him was for next Monday on the tennis court. That's right, we're playing tennis with our neighbors!)
That was one of our crazy days this week! The work is progressing out here in Hemet, and the Lord is guiding it all!
I Love UUUUU Alll!!!!!
Elder Bailey
