Is this water sanitary....? It looks questionable to me.....

Hahahaha that line alone may perfectly describe the life of a missionary in a foreign country. Hahaha and I just really love that movie :)

My dearly beloved family whom I cherish and adore!! 

How are ya? I am doing great. I love being a missionary more than words can even describe :) Well, this has been a weirdish week so I am just going to get started rambling as usual. Bear with me :)

On Monday we went to the beach in Marcona (a super southern part of Nasca) (I will send pictures next week, didn't bring my camera to Lima lo siento) and it was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous :) I collected a bunch of really pretty rocks because it reminded me of being with the family and we walked around and took pics and looked at the ocean and pondered. I have always loved the ocean and the beach because how can you be looking at the ocean from the beach and not feel the love and greatness of God? Ah. Refreshing :) 

On Tuesday I don't really remember much of what happened, but I do remember finding a new investigator who is actually an old investigator that we are revisiting. Her name is Marina and she is very interested in the gospel, but she is afraid of changing her life and then falling again. That is a super common fear of investigators - getting baptized and then messing up. But she is really, really good, and I know that she has potential :) 

On Wednesday, we found a new less active who is actually a tad insane and talks wayyyy too much but is sweet at heart and has a daughter who isn't a member. We are now teaching her daughter and she has a baptismal date (whooooo hooooo!). Also, that day we had splits with 2 members and I went with Hermana Mayi. While we were walking, she pointed out a house of a friend to me, and we decided to stop and visit her. It was really weird not having a companion, but it was really cool to be able to  teach the restoration by myself to this amazing lady! She is super receptive, and I think she has a lot of potential. She isn't married but she totally wants to get baptized, so here is hoping we can find her husband too. It was a super cool to teach alone and see that I can do that.... I just love being a missionary, maybe a little too much.

Well, on Thursday we had a multi zone, and on Wednesday night Elder Grover (health elder) called me and told me I would be traveling to Lima for 3-5 days after the multi zone to go to the doctor because they think I have a parasite hahaha. Yay for new little friends!! So I would be traveling with Hermana Douglas. WHAT?  So I packed my bag and we left with the zone Thursday morning at 5 am ( 5 AM) to go to Ica. The multi zone was AMAZING. It was the last one we will have with the Douglases, which was actually super, super sad. It was such a spiritual meeting and you could just feel the love radiating from Sister and President Douglas. They are amazing. Talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and refining ourselves in the mission for the life thereafter. Then we got to watch MEET THE MORMONS!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, talk about surprise. It was super good :) I love President and Sister Douglas, and they also brought their 14 year-old son Chris so that was cool as well. Then, after the meeting, I said goodbye to my comp and my zone and headed to the bus station with Hermana Douglas and Chris and the Assistants (President went to Nasca for district conference). I got to sit and talk to Hermana Douglas for like 5 hours. It was really cool, a rare blessing. She reminds me a lot of mom. But I have lost a lot of ability in conversing in English.... haha

When we got to Lima, I went to the office (at like 12:30 am) with the Assistants and then Hermana Jara and Hermana Guzman came to get me in the office. They will be my hosts :) They are amazing. I have been staying with them and proselyting with them, and it has been really fun. I went to the doctor, had uncomfortable discussions about my poop with him (they think I have a parasite ....did I mention that that is why we spoke of my poop) and then had to have blood drawn from my hand (oww.) Then I had to take home a 3 day poop test. Eww. So many things I didn't know I would do in this life. Hahaha, and the last little poop container (I call them the smurf tubes, to myself, because no one else speaks English) was delivered this morning.  I have an appt. tonight and then I should be good to go back to Nasca very soon!! Whoo hoo for no more carrying poop in smurf tubes on public transportation in one of the biggest cities in the world! Hahaha Lima is weird. Parts of it are super nice and I just walk around with my mouth open because I have been in pueblitos for like a year. Hahaha

While I have been in the area of the Hermanas, they had a really beautiful baptism and a lot of spiritual lessons :) I love that wherever you are, you are a missionary. Lots of taxi driver contacts too, They are really interesting people always. A bus lady talked to me in English today... and she accepted a baptismal date. I am excited to pass that reference along :) I love being a missionary. More than anything else I have ever done :) I am quite sure I will never stop missing this calling. I love it :) 

I love my Savior. 

I love doctors :) (sort of....)

I love this Gospel.

I love, love, love being a missionary.

I love my Mission President.

I LOVE MY FAMILY

I love the temple :)

I love you.

Have a great week!! 

Hermana Lauren Bailey and her possible parasite friends :)

I Can Teach You to Dance, but You Have to Hear the Music....

That talk was sooo pretty. I really loved it and thought it was profound :) and I love music. It was Wilford A Andersen of the 70 :)

Holy moly hola my familia who I love so deeply and eternally!!!

Happy (belated) Easter and conference weekend!!! Wasn't it amazing? I think it was amazing. I love conference, and I think easter is one of the most tender holidays ever. It is just a really special time of year :) I loved stepping back a little this year and really trying to think about what was happening during this last week more than 2000 years ago in the life of Christ (which isn't that difficult when you live in a catholic country with lots of relatively scary parades and so forth to reenact it all) and it was a really cool experience. 

Last Monday for pday we traveled!! Whoo hoo! Hahah this week was concilio for leaders in Lima so on Monday we got up bright and early to head for Ica. We did internet there and then ate Burger King. :) Ahhh, tender mercies ahahaha. Then, I went to Lima with Hermana Bott and her comp Hermana Villena who is also a leader this change. We had to take the normal bus (we usually take vip which is faster and has bigger seats and doesn't stop every 10 seconds and has air conditioning) to pick up another sister in Cañete.... so that was entertaining. Hahaha but I got to see Hermana Wilkins for like 6 seconds and it is always a delight to get to talk to Hermana Bott, so all is well :)

The next day was concilio and it was sooo good. I really love and respect President and Hermana Douglas so much. I am really going to miss them when they leave. They are truly amazing. And after more than a year I feel really close to them. And the spirit was very, very strong in this concilio. I feel like everything in the mission and the concilios and what I am experiencing just keeps getting more and more spiritual. It is an interesting thing :) They talked a lot about finding and helping people to repent and progress through commitments. I really think we can apply that a lot to my area and progress better, so I am very excited for that.

Then on Wednesday we finally made it back to Nasca after sleeping over in Ica. We were able to have a few lessons and a few in family history. But funny story I was actually feeling sick and so we had to like book it to the capilla and we were in a taxi and there was a song called fireball (I don't know if it exists in English but I don't know that it is good so don't look it up) but it was just so ironic because my insides were on fire and I could help but laugh. Then after I felt way better so no worries :)

One of the really spiritual experiences of this week was when we had a really sweet single mother member (Mayi, she is absolutely amazing. Big fire in this branch) accompanying us to an appointment. It turned out she knew the investigator and that they are both single moms. In the middle of the lesson, we asked Mayi to share her testimony and it was very very powerful. We are hoping we can have more lessons with the two of them this week and help her family to progress :)

We found 2 awesome new investigators also with the help of Mayi, so it was a really good week. I absolutely loved conference, I cant even hit all my favorites but I love when they testify of the atonement and resurrection. I love the fact that we can always change. That God's promises are right there and that he wants to bless us. That he needs us to be as good as we can, and that we can do it! That families are sooooo important and so beautiful. That marriage and home and children are tender :) I am so thankful for the home I was raised in, for my amazing parents and for my brothers. I am so thankful for extended family and for this gospel. For the temple and for the enabling power of the atonement :) For the blessing of being a missionary at this time. It is my only true prayer and hope that I can be and do what the Lord wants me to do and follow HIs will.

Matthew 25:34-40, 21.

I love you all so dearly!

The blessings of the temple are priceless.

All of God's blessings will be received by the obedient.

I love my family!

I know this gospel is true without a shadow of a doubt. 

I love you :)

Hermana Lauren Bailey

Seeds of Perfection

One of my favorite quotes from conference was (something like....) none of us are perfect in this mortal life, but we all have seeds of perfection within us. I love that! I think that is so profound. I need more time to ponder it hahahaha :) 

Anyway. My dearly beloved family whom I love so dearly!

How the heck are you??? Seriously getting a kick out of all the pics and videos I had today, made my whole life. I am so blessed and grateful to have such an amazing family.  I am eternally grateful, and eternally grateful that I will have them for eternity :)

Well on Tuesday we actually ended up working for half of P-day because we had appointments... I think that means we are old lame missionaries, hahaha ,but it was  really good day. Hermana Tuquerres got in from Ayacucho and she told me that Diana Pastor got baptized!!! She was Jossy's sister in Ayacucho that couldn't get baptized because she wasn't married. I cried :) I love this gospel.

On Wednesday we had our District meeting and the focus of this week was to find 10 new investigators to show our repentance and diligence to open our mouths (Doctrine and Covenants 33) and we left totally excited to find as many as we possibly could. We had found 2 on Monday and were ready to show our faith and just find :) Well we left that meeting and had like the weirdest afternoon of my mission hahaha. We taught 5 new people. 5!!! That is unheard of!! But of those 5, only 1 accepted a second visit... also unheard of. Hahahaha so we taught like full lessons and then got straight up rejected by 4 people.  It was pretty weird... but also pretty funny. We ended up with 1 new investigator that day (Vanessa, is a single mom with a 7 year old son who believes in God but has a lot of trials) and felt like we were still off to a good start, with increased opposition which almost always means what you are doing is right :)

On Thursday we found a new investigator right off in the morning! Liliana has lot of faith in God, but has never really understood how to exercise it. Then, the whole day no one was around. Hahaha so after the morning... pretty much nothing happened, haha, but still a stellar day. We passed by to talk to a less active we have been working with and she totally opened up to us for like the first time. We were able to teach a little better to her needs. (Cleisy. She is the bomb.) and she said she was going to come to church!! Then she got sick and she didn't, heartbreak.)

On Friday we didn't find anyone because we went to Marcona!! Yay for hour long adventures in scary scary vans! Haha but it was really great. We always have lots of family history success down there. And there was a lady who just hugged me and hugged me because she was so excited to meet someone with pioneer heritage. I am so blessed (I will never understand why) and so grateful to be able to serve among the loving, faithful people of Peru.

On Saturday my comp woke up sick!!! We called the Elders ASAP for a blessing and were praying all morning to be able to leave in the afternoon and find new investigators. We were able to leave and as a huge miracle and tender mercy found THREE right away. Maria and her two youngest kids Alonso and Jimena. They are so receptive and sweet, and we are way excited to keep teaching them ;) We saw miracles ALLLLLLLL week with new investigators as we really tried to repent and be the best missionaries we could be. Then that night was the Women's Conference, and I absolutely loved it. Always thinking of all my ladies at home.... mom, grandmas, aunts, friends and missionaries as well :) I have a lot of blessings in my life. Especially my mom :)  and my dad. And well I guess the 3 bros too :) loved the focus on families and eternity. Was the best :)

Then, on Sunday, freaking nobody came to church. KILL ME. Everyone was on vacation for Semana Santa. flip. But then in the afternoon, we saw 3 MORE MIRACLES. Three new investigators :) completing our goal of 10. We are so incredibly pumped and even more humbled. I love this gospel, and I love this missionary message and this missionary work.

We are so blessed to have the church (so well established) in our lives.

The temple brings blessings that are temporal and eternal.

I saw 2 rats and 3 cockroaches this week.

I promise I will send pictures next week, don't trust the computer.

A lady with a hand scythe totally got in our taxi this week and it was so funny and so scary. Should have seen the driver's face #pricelesss #gonnamissperu

I am so blessed. I know this church is true. I know that Christ lives, and so will we.

I love my family :)

Les amo!

Hermana Lauren Bailey

Drop in the Ocean

Mother Teresa once said about the difference she was making (or not making) "What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean, but if we didn't do it, the ocean would be one drop less than it is."

We are all just trying to add our drops to the ocean :) When I think about all of the people I love and care about all trying to add their drops..... we make a pretty big difference. 

And one drop of an incomprehinsibly immense ocean is an awful lot for one person alone to be filled with.... 

Just a thought :)

MY BELOVED BEAUTIFUL FAMILY WHOM I LOVE CON UN AMOR SUMAMENTE GRANDE AND PROFOUND!

Well, as you all know Monday was a weird day because the internet just like quit working, In all of Nasca. Seriously, how does that even happen? It is actually really funny, because then yesterday was transfers (I am staying with my comp :)) and everyone had to travel to Lima and the bridge got washed out (it is a really little bridge) and now no one can come back.... Nasca is just a funny little place. Monday was still a great day, even after waiting 5 hours to do internet. I love you all so much, and I am so blessed to have such an amazing family.

Tuesday was a pretty routine day, we taught a few people in familiy history as well so that was really great. This week I have been trying to read the conference talks from the last conference to prepare for this weekend (YAY WOMENS CONFERENCE OH MY HECK EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO) and next weekend. I was reading the talk by Elder Kelbingat (or something like that) about approaching the throne of God with confidence. And it was sooo good. I loved the part where he talked about repenting constantly and quickly, as to be always fit for the kingdom of God. It was really good (although there is also a burn in there about being over weight... thanks Jorg no one asked you) but it was amazing. I love it :)

Wednesday was AMAZING. Elder Waddell was doing a mission tour and he came down to Ica to talk to all of us. He talked a lot about finding and our purpose as missionaries, and he said at least 100 times that our goal is to create eternal families. That the priesthood exists to create eternal families. and that all that we do is to create eternal families. That is God's purpose (Moses 1:39) and that is EVERYTHING. The temple and what we do there is EVERYTHING. The people who we love and call family are EVERYTHING. This gospel and following the path of discipleship is EVERYTHING. And i am so grateful for it, and for the spiritual boost it was on Wednesday.

On Thursday, we went to visit a less active named Gladis and were able to teach her with her 10 year old son Juan who has never been baptized. He is so smart and has such a huge desire to learn. It was a really neat experience to be able to teach him (I love kids, they get the simpleness of the gospel perfectly) and I think it is really going to motivate his mom too. Eternal families is the goal :)

On Friday I was reading in Mosiah 5:7-9 about being a covenant people and being disciples of Christ. In verse 9, it talks about taking Christ's name and recognizing by which name we are called.... and it reminded me of when Christ appears to Mary in the garden and she recognizes him as the master when he calls her name, because she had heard it before. She had followed him and learned the way that his voice sounds. She had heard it calling her before. We too can come to know by what name we are called, by ever trying to bring ourselves closer to Christ.

On Saturday, we received a miracle. We found 2 new investigators! One was the mom of a less active family that we have been working with like this whole transfer, and we are really really excited to start working with her. Saturday was also the day that we found out about changes, the most dreaded and anticipated call of every 6 weeks (and it is always like at 11:30 at nightt) and we are staying the same here in Nasca! Me and Hermana Torres! We are really excited, and really ready to see the miracles here in Nasca.

Sunday was a good day as well! We had one investigator in church (a friend a member brought, yay member missionaries! We need lots of those...) and then we found 3 NUEVOS INVESTIGADORES!  Talk about grace and miracles and tender mercies. We are really finding some really great people, and we finally surpassed our rut of not finding new people. It was amazing :) Then, that night, as is tradition in Nasca, we all went to the Fowler's house for dinner to say goodbye to everyone who is leaving. We had pancakes and french toast and bacon and it was a really fun night. I am really going to miss Hermana Wilkins, and we realized last minute we probably might not see each other again in Peru.... just depends. but weird stuff :) It has been fun to be in a zone with her again.  Hermana Tuquerrez, my old comp, is coming to the zone!!! So that should be fun :)

Well, yesterday was Monday and not P-day because of transfers so we had to proselyte.... and usually Monday just really doesn't go well proselyting, but yesterday we saw EVEN MORE MIRACLES. We found 2 GOLDEN investigators, one in the morning (Anaiis who is 23 and looking for God in her life) and Dennis who is a mother of 2 who is passing through a lot of trials and is from Ayacucho and is pretty sure she saw me in Alameda?  She lived in the elders area :)) We had a really successful day with lessons, which just doesn't happen on Mondays. Ever. In my whole mission. Hahaha we are being so blessed and seeing sooooo many miracles. I feel so blessed and so happy to be a missionary in this time. 

I know that the miracles we see depends on us, and how well we are fulfilling our calling. I know that this church and this gospel are so true :) I know that families can be eternal, and I know that the temple is the most important place on this earth, aside from the home. 

I know that Christ lives, and that he loves us.

I love you all so dearly!

Hermana Lauren Bailey

Discover How Much Your Heart Can Hold

My Dearly Beloved Family, Today the internet was (and is) down in Nasca for the whole day. 

3rd world problems.... 

I take so much for granted, and sometimes God just has to remind me. This email is going to be super fast and super scattered, but my heart is full and I feel incredibly blessed this week and today. God is good, and patience and faith are the formula to lasting happiness and joy. It is just carry on, carry on, carry on! And it is a joyous

journey.if we make it that way through gratitude and using the atonement:) Anyway. On Monday, we went to this ruins place called Cahuachi and it was sooo windy but was really cool because according to like history it could have totally been Zarahemla.... very cool. Also that night we had planned a Family Home Evening with some less actives and a ton of members came and it was a huge success! We are really working on strengthening the branch and the members. 

On Tuesday, we had a lot of member support again! Three members came with us

to visit a family of inactive sisters who just really need a lot of support. It was awesome to see the branch working and the blessings flowing. Wednesday, I had exchanges with Hermana Sintay and it was really good! She is an

amazing missionary, and I continue learning more than anyone else on the exchanges

through their examples. 

Thursday was the best day of the week. We started proselyting in the afternoon and I just felt weird and down.... I don't know what it was, but we were both feeling it. Then, we decided to go and visit a recent convert who is about 80 named Fabiana. She can't read, so we read the Book of Mormon to her and try to help her understand. She is really smart, just never had the opportunity to get an education because she lived in a little pueblo and then worked her whole life. But it frustrates her to not be able to understand the scriptures and things very well.... Her faith is amazing and she literally wants it more than anything. But it is hard for her. Well we read in 1 Nephi 11 when he asks Nephi if he understands the nature of God and he says I don't understand everything, but I know God loves us. After that, she prayed to close the lesson and it was the most sincere prayer begging for light and understanding I have ever heard in my whole life. She has so much faith in God, and she was just pleading with him to understand, and she just said, "I am your daughter!" and i just started bawling. I felt it so strong, what she by faith understands. That she is a daughter of god! and that He WILL care for us. 3 Nephi 13-26-33, Doctrine and Covenants 50:40-41, Moses 1:13 After that lesson, we prayed as a companionship and went to our next appointment and were able to set a baptismal date! Susana, who lost her husband, is preparing to be baptized the 18th of April. Then we found a new investigator, and the spirit of our day just completely changed. Thanks to the faith of Fabiana :)

 I was reading this week in the bible dictionary about temples,  and it says the temple and the home are the holiest places

 in the world. Doctrine and Covenants 136:31, we are tried in all things to be fit for the kingdom. The Spirit is so important and so delicate,.... it comes in the still and quiet moments, and we need to learn to live and thrive in those moments to be able to feel and live by the spirit. I am so thankful for this gospel, for this day, and for the blessings that God has given me. I am so thankful for my family, and for the Holy Ghost. God lives and He loves us, and we are His children. The temple is a holy house where we can feel the love of our Father and taste our potential. 

Christ lives, and He died for every single one of our sins, sorrows, and sufferings. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Kingdom of God on this earth, and only by and through the teachings of the  Book of Mormon can we make it back to Him who created us. I am so filled with love for my Savior and for my family and for the people of Peru. 

Thank you for everything, I love you all!!! -- 

*Hermana Bailey*

Perfect Imperfection

Hermanas Bott and Bailey

Buenos Dias my incredibly beloved familia whom I cherish and adore!!

How the heck are you? Sounds like there is a lot of crazy close calls going on.... I am so grateful for the blessing of the holy ghost and the blessings that come when we follow the promptings of it. I am grateful for covenants and the protection God offers his faithful servants. And I am thankful for a family that are faithful examples to me, and are worthy of the protection of the Lord. Also, side note, guardian angels are totally real. It is a promise of the family history that when we do vicarious ordinances or work in our family history, those people convert into guardian angels. They are there :) and the Lord protects those who are true.

Anyway. 

I love you all dearly.

Anyway.

Last Monday I spent the day traveling to Lima with Hermana Bott but it was by far the best travel day ever. I love her dearly, it was way cool to be able to REALLY talk for the first time in a whole YEAR and see everything that has changed and all that will change and how amazing the mission and the gospel and the atonement of Christ really is. We are so different, but still so the same. I am so grateful for true friends, and so thankful for this mission and the atonement. The plan of our Heavenly Father is perfect imperfection. His plan was always that we break.... the fall of adam and broken commandments. The atonement of Christ and broken bands of death and sin. The fall of us and our broken hearts, broken lives, and broken worthiness. We had to break to become whole, to be fixed and to grow. We had to break to come unto Christ. We had to break to learn and to grow. Satan wanted to change the plan, he wanted perfection. But that was never the plan. There is something very profound in a plan of perfect imperfection.... God loves broken things. The important part is that we apply the atonement and repentance to repair what breaks. 

Tuesday was concilio and as always the spirit was very strong. President and Sister Douglas just bring it with them... they remind me a lot of my mom and dad. And I just respect and love them a TON. One of the big themes I understood from concilio was consecration and becoming a new creature in Christ... building consecration and faith and really leaving it all behind to walk the path of discipleship. Because THAT is where the miracles come. And we so desperately need miracles every day. In the mission and in our lives. And we so desperately need to RECOGNIZE the miracles that there are. There are so very many. We are so very blessed, especially when we live a consecrated life and work to increase our faith. Which is hard sometimes.... but so very possible. Especially when we are doing the will of the Lord.  

 

Fun facts... me, Hermana Bott, Hermana Bond, and Hermana Rush were all in concilio. Reunited after one year!! It was awesome.

Funner fact.... I found out ( from Hermana Rush who is serving in my first ward) that Manuel Arcaya (a convert in San Juan) is now the Sunday School President and working towards getting sealed in the temple. I shed tears of joy :)

Wednesday... we finally (FINALLY) got back to our area in Nasca and it ended up being kind of a rough day.... we walked alllll day and we were sooooo tired and a tad bus sick and no one was home and everything was falling through... so we took a pause, stood under a tree, and said a prayer. Then, we went to teach a recent rescue who is about 80 years old and can't read, so we are helping her read and understand the Book of Mormon. We read chapter 8 of First Nephi and she understood all of it! We drew a picture of Lehi's dream while we were reading and she totally explained the literal and symbolic meaning of all of it and it was amazing. Truly :) Tender mercies of the lord. 

On Thursday we had Concilio de Zona.... which is when we come back and relay everything from concilio. It usually stresses me out to an extreme because I am still just really learning how to be in front of people... not one of my favorite things, ahahah, but having to teach this every month has really, really helped me. And this time the Spirit was so strong that it was easy. Hermana Douglas taught all about condensation and the dew point.... that humidity is our integrity and temperature is our faith, and when they are equal, the dew point happens. And the dew point is what brings the dews of heaven. It was super powerful, because we ae really needing a faith and miracle boost in the mission right now. But I know we are headed for it. Everyone is being humbled right now, and that is usually about when the miracles come haha. 

ON Friday, at the very end of the day, we saw a miracle :) We found a new investigator and she is great! Her name is Marina and we are way excited to start teaching her. We had been talking to EVERYONE all day and the grace came :) 

On Saturday, we had interviews with President in Ica. It was amazing :) He is seriously awesome. We talked a lot about the atonement in my interview, and I am so grateful for what I have learned and felt about the atonement in my mission. We also had a short training on goals and I FINALLY really understood what it is to put a goal of faith, as a missionary and also in real life. The faith is desire, work, and trust. Trust in God and the trust He has in us based on worthiness. It was a great day :)

Moroni 7:40-41

On Sunday, we had 5 less actives in church and almost all the recent converts and rescues! It was really a tender mercy. We weren't able to have any investigators, we are working really hard for that this week. Pray for us! Pray for the branch to explode with the spirit of missionary work.

A year ago, I remember walking around and teaching and wondering how I was ever going to do this for a year and a half. And now I just wonder how am I ever not going to do this? I love the mission so much. I love this work, I love this gospel. I love the Savior and I love the atonement. I finished the Book of Mormon again this morning. I know without a doubt in my heart that is true, and that it has power to change us. 

Should we not go forth in so great a cause?

OH remember how much I love you all :)

Thank you!

For absolutely everything.

Hermana Bailey

The Spirit of God and the Nasca Sun... Both Burn.

Hola my dearly beloved family whom I love!!! How is everything going? Wow I just love you all so much. Maybe a little too much :) Hahaha, well actually that probably isn't even possible.

Anyway,

I am rambling.

This week for P-day we played with water balloons and stuff and it was a really fun activity. I think it really helped us get closer as a zone too. It was hysterical and greatly appreciated because it was soooo dang hot. Seriously. It is always hot...but the sun and mountains are gorgeous, so I am OK with it :) That night we went to visit one of our investigators named Gustavo and we were talking to him about how his experience was in church the day before.  He was like "Hermanas, remember when you promised me that if I sacrificed and came to church, God would bless me to find work?" And we were like "uh..... yes?" And he said, I found work! I walked out of the church and was walking home and a man stopped me in the street and asked me if I wanted to work for him. The promise worked!" He just looked so happy and almost like shocked as he was telling us. It was awesome :) A huge testament of the blessings of church attendance and a big testimony builder to me because I am still like nervous sometimes to tell people if they come to church it will all somehow work out because they are all poor and need to work... but it is true. The blessings are real, and they always come.

On Wednesday I came up to Ica to do an exchange with Hermana Villena, Hermana Bott's companion. When I was in Ica we lived together for a transfer so I know her really well and it was a really successful exchange. Also, I love Ica and I got to see a ton of people I worked with when I was here and the Galindo family, so it is always awesome to come up to Ica :) I'm here right now actually... hahaha. Also with Hermana Villena we were able to talk a lot about teaching and teaching in the way the Savior teaches and it was really cool. We had a couple really cool experiences and made some really good goals. I learn more in exchanges than anywhere else... I just love seeing how everyone teaches. 

On Thursday we had a lesson with Basilia, one of our investigators, and her prayer was amazing. One of her road blocks is that she doesn't want to do anything without her husband, and he is always busy. But her prayer was so sincere and so powerful that I really think we are going to be able to see progress with him this week. Then after the lesson with her, we found a new investigator who is catholic but has a ton of questions and a deep testimony. Although there are like 80 little santitos like the Virgin Mary and the other ones and such, and they freak me out when we are teaching her. Yay catholic nations! Hahaha and after that we had a lesson with a less active and his mom and two of the young men and the District President came with us, and it was awesome. But the two young men I found out after aren't even members because they don't have parent permission.... and they are amazing. They are 14 and 15, they remind me of Judd and come faithfully every week. It breaks my heart, seriously. Also, I liked having them because there were a few drunks out and they were acting all tough and "protecting" us and it was hilarious. Hahaha and I made them contact  a lady to practice for their missions and they were so excited. I love the youth.

On Friday we went to Marcona to do family history! Marcona is an area about 1 more hour south of Nasca. It is right on the beach and it is super pretty. The saints down there are really faithful, and it is always worth the 1 hour van ride with the miners and mamitas to get to Marcona and teach family history :)

Holy crud. Saturday was the most difficult fast I have ever done. It was the hottest day of the week and every single house offered us Inca cola. TEMPTATION. But it was actually one of the most meaningful fasts I have ever had. That night, I was reading in preach my gospel and it says something like the central purpose of this life is to put our life in harmony with the will of the Father through repentance. And that just hit me really hard.... that is literally the purpose of our life. To just get it all in line with the Father. 

Then, on Sunday morning... we walked around all morning to pick up everyone who was going to go to church and NOBODY COULD. It was just like,  "Noooo not again!!!!!" It was a little discouraging, but the bright spot was this group of 3 less active sisters came and the whole branch was soooo excited to see them. We have been working a ton with them. The older sister is pregnant and is ashamed to come to church. She still wasn't ready Sunday, but we are working really hard with them. They are amazing :)

We had actually a lot of eternal investigators yesterday, and it just made me sad. People who can't progress due to someone else. I am so grateful for the atonement and the knowledge that someday all will be right. 

The gospel is true.

A mission is the best thing anyone could do.

Christ lives, and He loves us :)

And I love you! Have a great week!!!

Hermana Bailey