"heavy blessing us"

Dang.... I hope you're sitting down!  If not, do so cause you better be ready for a crazy update. 

Let me just say God is "heavy blessing us" as my companion would say. There have been so many instances in these past two weeks that one might consider a curse, but looking at them closely we can see that Gods hand is in the works here. In my life as well as yours, I encourage y'all to go back and look at your week and see what blessings God or the universe has given you.

I had to get my journal out for this, so you know it's going to be serious. 

- Sister Duerden and I went to drop off a birthday card at a members house that we had previously heart attacked. We were excited to meet them in person. Let's just say the man who answered the door was not the member family and he very quickly slammed the door in our faces. My first slam! 

- Transfers! A time where you could be getting a new companion or a new place to serve in. Good news, I'm staying in Moultrie for at least another 6 weeks! I'm so excited to stay with these wonderful people. Sister Duerden has been moved back to Florida and I have a new companion named... sister Downey. If this sounds familiar, it is, cause she was my MTC companion! 

- At transfers I met my doppelganger! A new sister in my mission looks just like me and we have the same style, smile and laugh. We are the same!

- We got to go down to Tallahassee for transfers, and were able to get Thai food. You've never seen two happier girls. We went to a beautiful park to eat, and just remarked on how gorgeous this world is. Even if it is a little too hot for May.

- Elder Bednar spoke to our mission again! This time over zoom, but it didn't make the experience any less powerful. That was so incredible!

- We found a fun store called the Latin house where we got a ton of crazy flavored wafers, which were way too good. Definitely ate them all in less than two days...

- Story time:

 We got invited to a little girls baptism! My first on the mission, I was pretty excited. We were asked to speak and fill the font. So 9am comes and we get in the car to fill up the font for the 11am baptism. And our car won't start.... it just clicked. Here's where some might say, "why didn't God answer our prayers and let the car start?"

 Well, He answered our prayers in a different way that day. We ended up calling a lot of members, one to go fill up the font, one to try and jump our car, and one to bring us to the church because the jumping didn't work. On a Saturday morning, most people don't answer their phones, but the few that did were so willing to help. 

 When the man showed up to try and jump the car we literally had to push the car backwards into another spot so he could get to it with his cables. So it sat in two parking spots the entire baptism.

 The baptism consisted of the family, the member who filled the font, and us. But it was so good. Both sister Downey and I gave talks. Sister Downey had forgotten her phone with notes and scriptures, so she had to improvise the whole thing. 

 After another member came and tried to jump our car, then realizing that wouldn't work he went to the store, bought a new battery and replaced it for us. Let's just say he was an angel in disguise!

 - Yesterday, we called an interested person to see when we could read the Bible with her, she said right now wasn't a good time and to call back today. Well, not even five minutes later, she called us back and said she couldn't pass up the opportunity. We read, she opened up, we have another appointment to read more, and we're sending her scriptures every night! That was a miracle.

I'm realizing the longer I've been out on the mission, the more I find happiness in the little things, in the things God finds happiness in. I know times are hard right now, for all of us. This is definitely not how we expected to be starting off 2020, and who knows how long it's going to be. Even with all this uncertainty, worry, and anxiety that I know I feel, and I'm sure y'all are feeling it too. I know that God is in charge. He is watching over every single one of us and He will not leave us defenseless or alone. What a wonderful promise! 

Something I wrote in my journal is, one step, one breath at a time. As my second dad always says, "you can do it!" (Love you Ved)

Take a deep breath, you've got this, your break is coming. Trust in the Lord and all will work itself out. It's scary and daunting but worth it! 

I love y'all so much! 

Sister Bailey