February 20, 2023
Howdy! Its me again! Hope you all had a good week. This week here in Uruguay was pretty good! Today, 3 months ago is when I got set apart as a missionary!!
---Valentines day we made cookies to take to our friends. Took way too much time and effort because they don't sell chocolate chips here in grocery stores? And also we don't have measuring cups or bowls? Also I had to hand calculate fahrenheit to celsius to know what temperature to set the oven to. and how much butter to use because it's in grams.....they tasted ok with milk.
---Wednesday we went to La Capuera and met an inactive member by accidently looking for someone else. Always cool to see how God sends us in the right direction. She is really cool.
Tuesday and Wednesday I walked the streets of Uruguay with a bandaid on my nose because dear Ana made me because she saw my nose had been sunburned. How embarrassing haha.
---Thursday i tried teaching one of our friends about the priesthood and it was kinda tricky because she practices reiki and also is confused a lot about the priesthood and like why she cant bless somebody by the laying on of hands. not so sure she understands yet but atleast i didnt make her more confused haha.
---Friday morning we woke up and it was so cold. I mean like 50 degrees haha. But it was windy and like 85 percent humidity and it felt pretty chilly. But we had lunch in La Capuera and had people to visit in the other area we found out we have called Ocean Park which is the beach side of the highway across from La capuera, so we grabbed our jackets and headed out. Now for reference, Ocean park is kinda like walking through Island Park except the roads aren't straight. The road is literally just a trail and there's just a forest of trees and then every once in a while a house. So we're out walking in the middle of nowhere when the sky just dumps. like crazy. We got so soaked and it was pretty dang cold, but fortunately we were able to find the less active family that was home and we shared a message with them (a miracle because it was hard to use the map on the phone because well a wet screen is just kinda useless), soaked their floor lol, and then they drove us to where we had lunch because it was still pouring rain. All day it poured, which was very nice because Uruguay needs water right now. We were like Al fin, God answered our prayers and we have rain..just happens to be at quite an inconvenient moment haha. While we were walking through the crazy rain trying to find the member to visit or honestly anyone or anything to help us get out of the rain, at first I just laughed and was having so much fun, like what an adventure. But after a while I was just cold and hated life. It really was a fun adventure though and I love the rain. I just really love it more when I am more prepared for it.The lightning and thunder that night were pretty insane. For two nights, we changed our blasting AC to blasting heat, but now we are back to AC and all is well. Ive never experienced a humid winter, but this was a nice little warning to me to enjoy the heat while I can until winter hits.
---Saturday was pretty good and we visited our friend Ana to make sure she would be coming to church the next morning. She told us she would come if the weather was perfect. So we prayed for that. And it was, but she didn't come. I really do think she will come next week though because she asked us if we could arrange a ride for her next week. She has progressed recently and this week told us that she feels like a different person recently and like her life has changed since she started listening to us and accepting the gospel into her life. She says she is a lot more peaceful. So true and I love that she has been able to recognize that change! I am so happy for her, She is like our best friend here now and just makes us laugh the whole time. We put her on a date to be baptised in March so please pray she will come to church and continue in faith. I am so happy for her. This week we are also going to work on getting members to visit her and get to know her so that she has friends in the church and not just us because we don't want her to stop going when we end up leaving. Probably should have titled this email Ana because we went to see her literally every day. oh that reminds me this week i finally got to try tortas fritas because the weather was rainy...pretty good stuff.
---We also had some really good lessons with our friend Edison in the hospital and he told us he would love to go to church if he can get permission to leave the hospital. He also has a Book of Mormon now and has been reading that.
---Our friend Luciano didn't come to church again this week so we are going to have to move his baptism again, but we tried real hard. I think we called them like 6 times like we told them we would and went to their house before church to get him and woke them up. The mom turned us away, but I think we will be able to get him next week.
---There were very few people at church this week again, but our sweet little 8yr old friend Lucmila and her mom came to church even though they slept in and missed the first hour. Lucmila wanted to come so bad that her mom brought her for the second hour. They gave us a ride home from church and on the ride Lucmila asked me where I thought she was in the Book of Mormon and she told me really excitedly, "chapter 2!!" She has so much excitement and joy to learn and to be at church and to be baptized! I love her and her mom
A member in our branch got hit by a car when he went to cross the road to go to the store to buy water last sunday. Guess that's what happens when you don't keep the sabbath day holy. JK!! Poor guy. Just needed water. The members have been taking turns spending the day in the hospital with him. A miracle though, despite being flung in the air, all he did was shatter his wrist. well obviously bruised everywhere too. I am learning more about healthcare here and honestly I am kinda glad we don't have free healthcare in the US. This guy has been in the hospital for over a week in a chair and waited for almost a week to be operated on because they don't have enough beds right now? crazy!
Meanwhile, a different member of our branch had a heart attack. His poor wife has been in the hospital with her dad in Maldonado who is sick and then her husband had a heart attack and is now also there. They chose to go to the private healthcare clinic instead of the public hospital though and they are getting quicker care i think. They are a great family and I hope they can catch a break soon.
My companion and I have been working together better in lessons this week and it has been cool to use my Spanish more. I just pray that The Spirit will guide me to say what I need to say and then I try not to burst out laughing at my own Spanish and ruin the moment. God blesses me with the gift of tongues and probably more he blesses them with the gift of interpretation because probably about 90 percent of the time I just don't even conjugate the verb. I just say it in the infinitive form lol. Also this week on Friday and Saturday we are going to have exchanges and me and another american sister that just got here 7 weeks ago are going to be together so that is going to be dope. And probably a massive train wreck trying to teach in broken spanish. But hey if my spanish is correct about 50 percent of the time and hers is correct about 50 percent of the time, I think that means we could totally nail it like 100 percent, right? haha it will actually be so cool though to get to really have to use our spanish and i think we will see some cool miracles together. not sure how the sleeping situation is gonna work though cuz we only have 2 beds...looks like 2 are gonna be on the nasty floor with the bugs.Also we have a bunch of new missionaries in our zone after exchanges so i am looking forward to meeting them when we have pday together or something. Also my companion and i are the only hermanas in our district now.
---This weekend there has been a big festival going on here in Pan De Azucar and people come from all over for it. It's part of the celebrations for carnival. Saturday they had singers come and it was so loud that on the other side of town it sounded like we were there at the concert. Then last night the town was just dead because everybody was at the festival. I have been waking up at like 3 or 4 am to all the people talking outside your house as they walk home. And there's usually beer bottles when we leave in the morning.
---Oh also this week I discovered the greatest alfajore in the world. It basically tastes like a brownie and an alfajore mixed its SOOO GOOOD! say buy to my health and buy to my bank account. haha no i already set up a reward system for myself don't worry. The truth is I actually just bought a package of the cheaper alfajores to have something to eat every night to give myself something to look forward to at the end of the day haha. do whatcha gotta do. I really wanted one of the brownie tasting ones though but it's more expensive, so I challenged my trainer to see who could go the longest without laughing in our lesson with Ana. harder than you might think. I won haha and she bought me the alfajore.
--Something I have been working on being better at this week is my scripture study and I have enjoyed it. I started over again in 1 Nephi and maybe it's because I have started over so many times and read it over and over, but 1 Nephi is seriously so good! And I love reading about them returning to get the plates. I feel like I am reading a novel instead of scripture when I read that story lol. I would like to say that I am like Nephi, but the truth is sometimes I am more like Laman and Lemuel and I complain a lot, but, it is my goal to be more like Nephi and have faith like Nephi did. Also way cool that like he is a legit person and one day we can meet him and others in Heaven. Even if it's just 2 minutes, try to get in the habit of reading your scriptures every day! The Book of Mormon is powerfuñ! i meant powerful but I kinda like that word too so i'm gonna leave it
--My relationship with Jesus Christ is strengthened every day as I let Him shape me into who I need to be, let Him guide His work, and rely on Him for help.
There's a line I always quote from a klove song that says," I'm just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, all about somebody, who saved my soul."
I'm not a nobody, I am a beloved daughter of God, but I am nobody without Christ. But because I have Christ and have seen Him change my life and save my soul, I am just here to tell others about Him. Although sometimes I get homesick or think why the heck am I spending my Friday night visiting complete strangers in the pouring rain in Uruguay, I really am so glad I am here and am part of this great work telling people about somebody who saved my soul and sharing the good news of the restored gospel. What a blessing.
Ok also I just got a message on facebook from somebody who lives here in Uruguay and it turns out my aunt Sue was one of the missionaries that taught her and this lady knows my mom and she just sent me pictures of my aunt on her mission. this is so cool!!
Anyways, hope you are all doing well! I would love to hear about how you're doing! Thanks for all the continued prayers and messages and thoughts and love. You are all in a way, part of this great work too with me! Love love love you all!
Gonna make it a great week and work hard! Vamo Arriba!!
with mucho love,
Hermana Bailey
Spider Count: ALL numbers left my mind when i saw the awfully nasty and huge one at Anas house on Tuesday. Some red flying insect creature thing had captured the spider which was HUGE and ya wow it was just an awfully terrible sight.
Pictures: not sure yet what i am gonna add so just enjoy : )
Oh but one of them is me looking at the sky because i LOVE the stars and well the sky in general. My comp took pics of me the other night while i was enjoying them and she says shes never met someone so obsessed with the sky. I find orians belt every night before we go in for the night. So cool that we are all under the same stars even though so far away!!
Guys i really thought this was going to be the week i could be concise. I think the harder i try, the longer it gets. One day.
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