Tales of the Bailey Family Missionaries.: Wherein Sadie goes to the Mexico City Temple!

December 23, 2022 (Week 5)

Hello everyone!! I am going to try to recap the last 3 weeks here in Mexico but it might be all over the place so bear with me. or dont haha and just have a Merry Christmas!

Hmm where to start... So when I started walking away from my family I was expecting to start crying or getting emotional but honestly this is how it went. I was walking away and thought "oh boy! what in the actual heck am I doing right now? For real, what am I doing?". But then I just thought, "no. I know exactly what I am doing. I know my purpose". I'm not sure if I have ever walked through security as confidently as I did that day. Almost all of my district was on the same flight which was fun although they all sat close together and i ended up in the back of the plane since my ticket was booked later since they originally had me leaving from IF. lol. But anyways we got here and things went pretty smoothly and the CCM is so awesome! traffic in Mexico City is un poco loco though.

Okay, I was going to do a pretty thorough summary of my time here so far but I am already a little tired of writing this so a change of plans: I am just going to write random things about it and it might not be in order.

My sister-in-law's brother was here the first week too before he left for Uruguay so that was cool. Elder Ballard and Elder Stevensen came and spoke to us and it was a very cool experience. Elder Stevensen talked about our tool kits as missionaries that consist of the scriptures, the missionary standards book, and Preach My Gospel. It was really good.

Elder Ballard spoke about a lot of great things but a few things I loved were:

-We should be striving to develop an intimate spiritual relationship with the Savior of this world.

-our message is the most glorious anyone can receive at this time

-He addressed us as "fellow missionaries" because apostles are missionaries and missionaries are like apostles- we are testifying to the world of Jesus Christ

-Our mission is an eternal thing

-we should be bold in sharing the gospel and never be in a situation where we would be ashamed to say who we are as representatives of Jesus Christ

-talked a lot about how his mission changed his life forever and how its the greatest opportunity

-if you know the gospel from chapter 3 of PME in your own words, by the power of the Holy Spirit you will...find more, teach more, and prepare more for baptism.

Before this devotional with them, our teachers and the CCM presidency instructed us to have at least one question in our minds and they promised it would be answered. Honestly, though I didn't have any questions on my mind. But when Elder Ballard was finishing his talk, He said a very common phrase, that the Church of Jesus Christ is true. And at that moment the spirit confirmed it to me and I had the feeling that that was my question. Without knowing it, I needed to have that truth confirmed to me. After all, I am preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for the next 18 months! It was a very cool feeling to have it confirmed for me. Elder Ballard had just given a very powerful talk, but what I really learned from that night was a simple sentence in his closing remarks. I know for a fact that this church is true. I knew it before but I really know it now and God knows I know it so I will never deny it. What I also learned from that experience is that it really is the Holy Ghost that teaches and confirms the truth and converts people. Elder Ballard said it, but the Spirit confirmed it to me. That brings me a lot of hope with my teaching because I don't have to say things perfectly or super profoundly, but if I can speak simple truths like Elder Ballard did, with conviction, then the Spirit can take care of the rest.

The food here is usually pretty good. Recently it's been making my stomach hurt but nothing too bad, just painful for like 10 minutes after eating. Then all is well. I already know I will be missing the food when I get to the field and have to start cooking for myself. My favorite is when they have horchata.

Our district leader went home in week 2 and I think that kinda shook our district up a bit but we are doing good now. Entoncessss, My district is way super awesome and our teachers are the absolute best. I am definitely going to miss them all when I leave.

I am still not good at studying the scriptures and stuff but making progress slowly i think. Also Spanish has been frustrating me recently but we are becoming friends with the teachers at the Spanish help desk here so that's good haha.

The other day in class we were memorizing phrases about the great apostasy and our teacher told us that at dinner we needed to go up to someone and teach them about the great apostasy, so when we were at dinner I went up to President Kirkham and His wife, which by the way they are the coolest and funniest people ever I love them. Anyways I talked to them in Spanish and then shared about the great apostasy using the phrases I had memorized and honestly it was bad. But when I finished they said never have they had missionaries come up and practice teaching with them and they loved it. I was pretty discouraged with my Spanish skills though but then Hermana Kirkham was like do you want to do it again? Like super random to me that she asked that but I was like uhh sure. And so I did and it was crazy how much better it was than just the time I tried 30 seconds before so now I really believe that practicing and trying, again and again, is so valuable.

Also, we got to go to the Mexico City temple last week and it was so cool. The temple is very beautiful and it was very cool to do a session and initiatory in Spanish. I understood way more than I expected, probably because I know what it is in English. It was a great experience. The gospel is true and powerful in every place and in every language. I am excited to go again this coming week.

It has been fun to be here as a missionary in the CCM leading up to Christmas because everything is so focused on Jesus Christ. I feel like my family always did a great job of focusing on the Savior, the true reason for the season, but it's just different when Santa actually isn't coming to town haha!! But we have really cool things going on here for Christmas and I am excited. Tonight we are starting off with a Birthday party for Joseph Smith and we have permission from the president to stay out late because the party doesn't actually start until when we are supposed to be back home. so woohoo fiesta tonight! Then tomorrow for Christmas Eve, we have a bunch of fun and spiritual activities to do. In the morning we will do a fun run/ obstacle thing like where you'll have to run tied to your companion while reciting the missionary purpose or hop while singing called to serve in Spanish, etc. Then there's a craft/gratitude activity and also piñatas, and other activities like that. One of the activities is a walk to the future temple grounds here at the CCM. We will get a little picture of Christ and write our testimony of Christ on the back of it and then when we get to the temple grounds, we will put our testimony in a little chest and that chest will be offered as part of the cornerstone for the temple here. It is such a blessing to be here right now.

We will also participate in a posada tomorrow night. A posada is basically a reenactment of Joseph and Mary's journey to finding a place to stay. I think. If you want to learn more you can look it up on the church site. They did one at temple square recently and have a video of it.

Then on Sunday, there will be lots of singing Christmas hymns and talking to family. It will be a different Christmas for sure but in a very good way. I am super excited. The most strange thing is honestly that it doesn't feel like Christmas at all because it's green and sunny and like a perfect 68 degrees with a slight breeze. haha Definitely not a white Christmas and definitely not the weather I am seeing you all post about in Idaho. Anyways, It will be so fun to get a glimpse of a traditional Christmas in Mexico.

And also we have permission to wear play clothes tomorrow even in the comedor/cafeteria so I am excited haha

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and can focus on the greatest gift the world ever had, Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer, guiding older brother, advocate, and friend. I could not ask for more than that. I invite you all to think about what gift you can give back to Christ this year.

Matthew 25: 40 "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Normally this isn't how I look at this scripture but today I am applying it to this thought. Serving others, in whatever way, is serving the Lord and it makes Him so happy. When we do something for others, we are giving back to Jesus Christ. His Atonement is for all of us. We don't need to pay Him for it, but when we love Him, we want to show Him we are grateful and love Him. So, what can you do to serve others? What can you give to Christ?

I really am bad at writing these emails haha. I probably included really random things and left out the important, but oh well

I hope you all have the best time with loved ones this year and can find peace, joy, and strength in the eternal gift of the life and Atonement of Jesus Christ! FELIZ NAVIDAD!! LES AMO MUCHO!!

Hermana Bailey

Spider Count: Seen too many in the laundry room. Encountered 1. This deserves a picture and a story.

I usually get out of bed like 5 minutes before my comp and the other day I woke up and walked to the bathroom and I was still in that kind of half-asleep state when I saw something scurrying in the corner of the bathroom stall. I looked over at it, still kinda half asleep and as soon as I realized what it was, it DARTED toward me. Some say spiders leave people alone, but this one knew what it was doing. That spider came right at me so stinkin' fast. Like Usain Bolt of spiders. Needless to say, I instantly woke up and I was outta that stall right away. I ran backward almost falling into the shower, grabbed my shower sandal then smacked that thing harder than I've smacked anything before. Then that sandal stayed right there on top of it until I finally picked it up that afternoon. I put my shoes on as soon as I wake up in the morning just in case.

Oh, also a crazy story - we were doing a service project the other day and there was this Hermana and I saw her nametag said Hermana Groberg, and I was like Woah what. So we talked anddddd ya she's my second cousin!! Haha!