37: Independencia 4

Halo from El Salvador.

So this week has passed by very quickly.  It's been pretty sweet.  We have some sweet investigators.  We have one family...the familia Flores.  We set an appointment with them a couple days ago, but were unable to go.  The next day, we saw them on the streets and they were like, Hey, what happened?  When are you guys going to come back?  Wow.  Well.  Okay.   Tomorrow, I guess.

So the next day we went to their house, taught a sweet lesson, and got ready to leave.  It was about 7:30 already, and we had a long way to run to get to the next appointment.  Then it started raining.  Then it started pouring, and because we didn't have our umbrellas (well, I did) and we were getting soaked (the umbrella didn't work so well), we decided to contact a house and ask them if they'd let us in.  So I saw a house, and we took off running for it.  Well, turns out, they were members, and they made us some bean and rice soup, which I normally don't like, but theirs was very excellent.

After that, we took off running again to the appointment, and ended up teaching a very powerful lesson with this investigator named Henry.  He basically was like, "I don't feel the Holy Ghost in my wife's church and want to feel it," and "There are so many different doctrines, how do I know which one is right?"  Well, we have the answer for that.

That was basically like the epitome of [a model investigator for] the mission.  It was sweet.

Also, yesterday I went running for the first time on the mission.  I've always wanted to, it's just that no one ever wants to exercise in the morning, so I've never been able to.  But I got to go with Elder Beaton, the zone leader in Molino who was on intercambios with the assistants.  So we went running in the morning.  Man, I'm out of shape.  I hope he comes to the office or something so that I'll have someone to work out with me.

So that's the life:  working in the office, working in the field, learning a lot from the president—he's sweet.

Also, I'm going to start driving next week.

Thanks for all you guys do!

Elder Bailey

36: Independencia 3

Well, it's been another week, and time is rushing by.  I can't believe it's already been three weeks in the office.  It feels like nothing...like I just got there.  The office is very cool and very boring.  Boring, because I have to put in tons of baptismal records. And that's boring.  But cool because we do get some perks.  For instance…

Last night the president called us and told us he'd come pick us up at 8 this morning.  So he did. Then he took us to Burger King.  Then he took us to his house.  Then we ate food from Burger King.  Then they had brownies.  So we ate the brownies.  We enjoyed them very much. Very, Very much.  After, we had our own group study with the president.  Sweet!

So we watched an old MTC devotional by Elder Holland.  It was so cool.  Those devotionals were cool in the MTC, but even cooler when you're out in the field.  I felt pretty inspired.  Right now I feel like I should go study and work for my P-day.

We have some very cool, positive investigators, but they haven't really been home this week, so it's been kind of difficult.  But it's cool.  We do need to find more though, because...well...that's just something you should do.

So I've worked hard this week.  I've learned a lot.  Unfortunately, I have not actually written in my journal at all this week, so I don't really remember what happened.  But it was all cool.  Todo tranquilo.

Actually, I'm not going to lie, Sunday was a very, very hard day for us.  This was the day when we were supposed to confirm the 3 kids, and we were very excited for them.  But in the morning Mario called us (their Grandpa) and told us that they were being impossible and wouldn't go.   That was very hard for us, and the first thing we did after church was go to visit them.  They were acting so strange around us.  They knew where they were supposed to be, and felt very guilty, but they're kind of wild children.  That's kind of what happens when your parents aren't there to raise you.  Their parents had left for the states and dropped the kids on the Grandpa.  He really is trying his best to raise them, but they are just difficult.  He tries to teach them good principles, but they don't listen.  I kind of see that as one of the reasons that it is so important to raise kids in a good family unit.  The examples and atmosphere that the parents set makes a huge difference in how the kids act.  Maybe people are born with some traits, but wow, does their home make a big difference.

So when we got there on Sunday, they were acting really weird, and we realized that someone must have said something to them.  Someone was talking bad about us to them, and because of this, they have been acting so awkward this week.  It was hard, not going to lie.  You feel kind of sorry for this family because the grandparents are trying so hard, but their kids are just...lazy.

The good thing about Sunday is that in every lesson we taught, people gave us food.  The bad thing is that I already felt sick to my stomach, so the food didn't really sit too well.  But you know, that's the mission.
Also, we have a way cool investigator named Julio Cesar.  He's an artist, and kind of fits into that stereotype (yeah, I know stereotypes aren't so great, but he really does fit).  But he is very good.  I honestly have not had very many investigators that really think about the questions and answer them and understand and ask more
questions.  It's awesome!  We had a sweet lesson.  He also understands that he needs to get baptized.  We haven't been able to teach him for a long time because he's been painting a mural in San Salvador, but now that he's about to finish, we're going to start working with him more, then baptize him.

Also, there's William, the Eternal Investigator.  He is a lawyer, and all of his family are members.  He knows he wants to get baptized, but just has to clear up a couple of personal issues first.  He's probably one of my favorite investigators that I've had.  We have cool discussions too.  Last time we got into a cool religion/philosophy discussion, and we both learned a lot.  Sweet!

There are others, but I'm going to teach them a little bit more, then I'll tell you how they are.

Hope all's going well out there, because it's all going well back here.

Elder Bailey

35: Independencia 2

So I’m in the office now.

Still haven’t put my companion’s stapler in jello.

So I’m going to tell you guys a bit about the office.  It gets boring sometimes, but it’s really great.  It’s a great opportunity to be close to the president and learn from him.  But let’s go back to the beginning.

The office really likes to play ping pong (because there are tables in the chapels).  So we spend most of our P-days doing that.  The office people are way cool.  First of all, we have Elder Hosman and Elder Molina, the assistants.  They’re in Palmar.  They are some awesome missionaries.  I got to do splits with Elder Molina yesterday and we had a pretty dang sweet lesson.  He’s from Honduras and speaks awesome English…but to be honest, I really try not to speak English.  Then there’s Elder Christner, my companion.  He’s just chill.  He’s 26 and is from Colorado.  He’s got a sweet testimony and likes to work.  It’s good and bad having a gringo companion.  Good because...it’s just cool.  Then there’s Elder Huaman from Peru and Elder Guirola from Guatemala.  Elder Huaman has 10 months in the office and is leaving in about a week, but he is fun.  Elder Guirola is from Guatemala and also speaks perfect English.  To be honest, it’s just fun being in the office.  We’re just all good friends.  A lot of nights we’ll just talk about things and learn.  It’s fun.

So Sunday I got to have a baptism.  We baptized 3 kids...Andrea, Luis, and Maricela.  They are grandkids of an older member (he is 54 years old) who were never baptized.  I got to baptize two of them.  Wow.  They were kind of hellians.  Luis stuck his foot out of the water the first time, so I had to baptize him again.  He was so excited to be baptized again that after, he dunked his head under again and tried to go swimming.  I had to pull him out of the water and lead him to the door.  Oh, also, this ward is awesome and very supportive...so we had basically 2/3’s of the ward there watching us.  But it was cool.  It was a fun experience.  Also, no one has baptized more than 2 people in one month in this ward for about 2 years, so we just set the record.  Also, we have some way positive investigators.  Yesterday, I found a family of 6 with Elder Molina who are way sweet, and Elder Christner also found a family with Elder Hosman who were way cool.  I’ll give you all an update on them next week.

So there are some perks to being in the office.  This week Elder Amado of the Seventy (he’s got a picture of him on the main page of lds.org right now) came to give us some instruction.  We got to have our own special meeting with him—just the office (us 6) and the President and his wife.  Elder Amado basically told us to ask him any question we want, and he’d give us an answer.  It was way sweet, and I learned so much.  He answered all my questions, even the ones I didn’t realize I had.  He also talked to us a lot about the Holy Ghost and its purpose in the mission.  Really, we’re here in the mission to learn how to listen to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.  This way, when we return from our missions, we’ll be able to make wise life decisions, [including] marriage (of course).  But that has always been a question that I’ve had, because a lot of time, you don’t feel the spirit and you have to make decisions.  Sometimes, I feel the spirit and I say something and knock on a door, and nothing happens, while other times I just decide to knock a door or say something, and it works really well.  To be honest, a lot of the time we, as missionaries, don’t really feel guided by the spirit.  So he explained it like this (this was in the multi-zone [conference] the following day):

First of all, if you have that question, you’re not the only one.  Everyone feels that way.  Elder Amado has felt that way, our president feels that way, it’s normal.  Honestly, we’re not always going to be guided by the Holy Ghost.  Part of this is because we need to learn how to do things ourselves and make good decisions.  Sometimes, a lot of times, you’re not going to feel guided by the spirit.  Yes, we did receive the gift of the Holy Ghost with us on our confirmations, but while it is always there, sometimes we’re not going to feel it.  However, while we may not always realize when we are feeling it, we do learn as missionaries when it is not with us.  And this is for sure.  If the spirit is totally absent, you can tell.

But he explained that the spirit is kind of like a traffic light.  Sometimes, it’s green and you feel it and know exactly what you have to do.  Other times it’s red and you know it’s not there.  But the most difficult times to discern are when it’s yellow.  A lot of times, we don’t feel the HG for the decisions that we have to make because we need to learn and grow and make them ourselves.  If we’re keeping the commandments of God, he’s going to honor and support our decisions.  If it is something bad, he’ll let us know, but normally, he just trusts us to make good decisions and learn.

This was very interesting for me because the image of a missionary that people think of is someone who is always purely guided by the spirit for all of his mission, but it’s really not like that.  God is teaching us how to make decisions, how to recognize the spirit when it’s there, and how to make and achieve goals.  Really, if we were always guided, Satan wouldn’t be able to tempt us as much and there would be less opposition.  Basically, just as we had to separate from God for a time to learn and grow, sometimes we feel separated from the spirit so that God can try our faith to see if we really believe and make good decisions.  But if they’re good, he will support us.

So if you’ve ever had this question, or have it right now, chill out.  Everyone does.  God’s taking care of you; he’s letting you go a little so that you can grow.

That was just me rambling a bit about what I learned and some of the thoughts I had from Elder Amado.  He really is a powerful person.  He has a very happy, interesting view on things, and I really did enjoy being able to see things he sees things, even if it was for a moment.

So yeah, that was one of the perks of the office.  Another is that we get to be close to the president.  President Cordon is an amazing man.  He is smart, intelligent (even Elder Amado said that he was one of their most intelligent presidents), and a very humble servant of the Lord.  Very, very humble.  I really learn a lot from his manner of doing things, the way he handles problems, solves things, and the amount of love that he has for everyone.  It’s a very interesting perspective, seeing things from the office, and even though at times it does get boring putting in baptismal records into the system and only having Motab to sing for me, it is worth it and it is pretty cool to work in the office.  However, it would be kind of cool to get a letter or two from people I haven’t heard from for a while, not because I’m baggy, I’m just wondering how everyone’s doing back home.

But to be honest, I really have learned a lot in the mission.  I was just talking about this with Elder Hosman.  To be honest, I’ve gotten a lot stupider in the mission.  I used to know a little bit about everything, but now I’ve basically forgotten everything.  When I speak English, I say some of the stupid phrases, and I barely even remember much of what I was studying before.  But while I am getting a lot stupider with knowledge, I realized that we are all getting a lot wiser.  We solve problems better.  Our knowledge of the scriptures and gospel of Christ is much deeper. Our appreciation has grown.  Our Christlike attributes really have improved.  What I’ve learned here isn’t just knowledge, it’s wisdom.  It’s things that go deeper.  It’s part of our emotions and who we are.  Kind of interesting.

Okay.  Well, I think I’ve pretty much run out of time.  Se acabó.  I’m glad everything’s going well back home.  Keep it up.

Elder Bailey

34: Independencia 1

So here I am. The office.

Monday, after writing, I had to book it down to the office so that I could get trained on my job, but I couldn't find a member to drive me down until 5, and by that time they had to leave. Tuesday he was supposed to train me too, but we also received about 12 new missionaries from the MTC and we had to prepare everything for that, so I only got about 2 hours to get trained on my job, which kind of stinks because I have a lot to do.

Wednesday we got to the office early so I could figure out my job (I had to get a report in to the Area Seventy that day and I wanted to know how), but the power was out. Then, because of the high tech security that we have here, we got locked in the office (that's not sarcasm, there actually is a security system here), until we realized that one of the bishops left his keys for another door in the building. Wow, I really wish I had brought my lock pick set with me on the mission. I'm not going to lie, there have been times where it would have come in handy. Finally, at 3 we got the power on, and I just kind of...winged my report. It all worked out in the end, but whew, I've forgotten how to use technology. The computer just feels so foreign. I've really forgotten a lot, but it's all coming back like butter now.

Speaking of which, they don't have butter here, only margarine. It's terrible. We really need to get some butter.

So the office has been really busy. I've been running around all week, and am working on very little sleep. I wanted to sleep today for P-day, but the president called us back into the office to do some stuff, so that's probably not going to happen.

Aight. So my area. I'm in an awesome ward. It's called Independencia, and it's sweet. It's right next to Palmar, and we occupy the same chapel, so that is sweet. Also, the ward is just sweet. They give us references, they work....it's awesome. Refugio really made me appreciate a good ward. This Sunday we're going to have 3 baptisms. Sweet!

My companion's name is Elder Christner, he's from Colorado. Yep, and he's not Latin. It's way weird not having a Latin companion, but it's pretty sweet. We have a lot of fun together, and we work hard. It's way cool. Also, I really need my license. Right now only one of the 4 people in the office has his license, so if you guys could send that down to me ASAP, that would be pretty sweet.

The president is awesome. I am learning so much from him. He also can play ball. He came and played basketball with us this morning and basically scored the majority of the points (part of it is that he is way tall). So yeah, life's sweet. I'm probably going to be here for about 6 months. I have to re-learn excel, access, and how to drive.

Hope everything's going well back home. Say hi to the dog for me.

Elder Bailey

33: Refugio 12

¡Buenos Días de El Salvador!

This week has been rather interesting.  The work has been slow in Refugio, but interesting.  First, I had to go back to Magdalena for interchanges (I've been there often because of the problems with some companionships.)  It was basically my second area.  It is very cool. I would like to be in an area like that.

So after a planning session on Wednesday, the president called us. Wow.  It was so intense.  Our hearts were pounding.  I figured we were getting chewed out for something.  The president told us that he wanted us to come to the office on Friday at 11:45.  We had no idea why, and I spent the whole next day (in Magdalena again) trying to figure out why.  Let´s just say I had a lot of ideas running through
my mind.

So we got there on Friday and found four other companionships there. They were some of the best missionaries in the mission, so I knew we weren't going to get chewed out.  Then the president came and told us that there was no underlying reason, he just wanted to start to get to know his missionaries.  So his wife came and they drove us to their mission house and gave us lunch.

Mmm...it was so good.  Lasagna cooked by Hermana Cordón.  It was so weird to be in a normal house...with furniture, etc.  So we ate lunch with the President and his wife, talked a bunch, and got to know each other.  It was pretty sweet.  Then after they brought us out Klondike bars, Butterfingers, and gummy bears.  Mmm.  It was good.  Then the president taught us a bit, and we left.  A little strange, I thought, but way cool.  I learned a lot from that experience.  Our President is so cool.  But that's not all that happened this week.  Just wait...

Saturday my companion got sick.  And because the members in Refugio are kind of lazy, I wasn't able to leave and preach.  Instead, I just stayed in the house, read the Bible, and talked to my companion.  So okay, nothing actually happened that day.

Then Sunday.  It was good.  We worked.  Then the night came, and we got a call from the zone leaders.  To be honest, I figured I'd probably leave after this change because no one stays in Refugio for a long time because it's really hard.  So the zone leaders told my companion the changes, and he just started laughing.  Ready?  Yep.  I just got called as the secretario de registros [records secretary].
So I'm going to return to Santa Ana and be in the same house I found 3 months ago, but as secretary.  Well.  I don't know what to thin. We'll see how it goes.  I'll get to write you all on Friday again because the P-day for the office is Friday.  So back to Santa Ana, this is going to be interesting.

So I'm leaving Refugio.  It's good, but at the same time I have made a lot of cool friends here.  Also, we never actually baptized the familia Herrera.  They just didn't want to get married.  Ójala [I hope] that one day they'll get baptized and married, because they are such a cool family.

So yeah.  I'll just keep learning.  That's what the mission is for. Learn, and help other people.

Well, that's all for now.  Enjoy life.  It's worth it.

Elder Bailey

32: Refugio 11

Woow.  So this week was so awesome!

Let’s start out...well…with Friday.

Friday we had a meeting with all the missionaries in El Salvador, President Eyring, Elder Christofferson, and various Elders of the Seventy.  And wow, was that amazing.  First of all, I got to see all my friends from my mission, as well as Elder Mendenhall, Gealta, and Parry from the MTC.  They are all doing awesome.  It’s so great so see that.  Then we had a couple talks from the Area Seventy there that were pretty sweet.  They did the questions and answers thing, which was cool.  There was a really cool spirit there, and I learned and realized a lot of things that I can do, change, and improve as a missionary.

Then we waited for President Eyring and Elder Christofferson, but they didn’t show up until about 7:00.  Apparently they came straight to us from the airport, and they didn’t realize how crazy the drivers were in El Salvador.  Elder Eyring cracked a few jokes about that.  That man is so funny.  I feel kind of sorry for the Latins because they needed a translator, and I’m pretty sure it was not the same.  Then another of the Seventy talked, then Elder Christofferson.  He talked about being grateful, then how we as missionaries are really like their companions.  Jesus said in the Bible that The Twelve are supposed to preach the gospel to all the world, and we are helping them fulfill this purpose.  Wow, it was good.  Elder Christofferson is so powerful, and his Spanish is amazing.  All of the Latins were talking about how his vocabulary was better than theirs.

Then President Eyring spoke again, and it was probably one of the most powerful talks I’ve ever heard.  They really are special witnesses of Christ.  They brought a spirit so powerful into that meeting that I have never really felt before.  It was unreal.  He taught us that we have to come to know Christ.  His personal testimony of Christ was so...personal, it was amazing.  He knows Christ so well.  He didn’t talk for a long time, and just gave us a little bit of counsel...but it was so powerful.  It’s changed my perspective on things a lot.  He is so happy, humble, and awesome.  Love that guy.

One bit of counsel that he told us really stuck out to me.  He talked about how he was with President Monson about 3 hours ago, and that Monson sent us his love.  Then he talked about that morning, when Monson walked in with a smile.  "He always walks in with a smile.  President Hinckley was the same.  Even when they had very hard things to do, they still had a smile.  A lot of times people would come in bringing a lot of difficult things...to... impress him with how hard things were, but he always keeps his smile and says, ‘things will work out.’”  Then he continued to speak about that.  Really, each of us are going to have difficulties in this life, and a lot of times, it’s going to be very hard.  But we need to remember to be happy, the gospel is a gospel of joy, and that things will work out.

Sunday we had the dedication (Saturday we just worked, actually).  It was so cool.  I was in our stake center and saw it from there.  It was a pretty awesome dedication.  I learned so much.  President Eyring ended up giving a prophecy about this nation; part of it was that El Salvador and the Americas would send missionaries to all parts of the world.  It was so sweet.  They taught us about temples, and the dedicatory prayer was awesome.  Eyring said that he’d given many of these, and every one was different, meant for a certain people, at a certain time.  There were some pretty sweet words spoken in that prayer.  It really was an amazing experience.

The work is going to progress so much more rapidly now that we have a temple.  I’m so excited and just want to get to work.  I really have received a strong testimony of the temple and of our church leaders.  The temple really is the house of the Lord, a place where we can go to get answers, understand, and express gratitude, a place separated from the rest of the world, the closest place to heaven on earth.  Our prophets and apostles really are called of God.  They have the same power as those of olden times.  You can feel that power when they’re around.

Well, that’s all for this week.  I’m so grateful to be here in El Salvador at this time.  There could not be a better time to be here.  That’s for sure.

Love yáll,
Elder Bailey

31: Refugio 10

Hello,

Wow, time’s flying.  Ya es una semana. [It’s already been a week.]  This weekend is the temple dedication.  Friday we have a big conference with all the missionaries in El Salvador and President Eyring and Elder Christofferson--two pretty important people.  Saturday we have the cultural event in San Salvador, with them and the youth here, then Sunday is the dedication (I will be in the stake center for that).  So it’s going to be a pretty sweet week.

So this week.

Monday, after writing, I went to Santa Ana to try out for the missionary choir to sing for President Eyring, but didn’t make it.  Let’s just say I can’t really read solfege much these days.  After that, we came back to Chalchuapa and had an activity as a zone.  We took a tour ride through Chalchuapa.  Yeah, that was pretty embarrassing, I’ll admit, but it was fun.  And the hermanas liked it.  Here’s a couple pictures of the city and the lagoon in Chalchuapa.  We are doing some sweet work in El Refugio--we’re changing an area that has the reputation of being horrible to awesome.  We’ve baptized almost every week, and keep finding really positive people.

Also, there are some pretty wicked storms going on.  We always find ourselves running through deep water, stuck in windy storms with lightning all around.  Yeah it’s awesome.  A couple days ago there was even a hurricane in Magdalena--knocked over a bunch of trees.  It’s pretty intense.  But at least it’s not hot when it rains.  I don’t like the heat.  Whenever it’s hot, it is so freakin’ hot.  Puya hay calor.

We’re also reactivating a lot of people.  The problem is that here in Refugio, the members are kind of lazy.  The majority only goes to church every other week, and they’re always late.  Yesterday I think we had about 15 people when we started sacrament meeting, then 49 after.  Everyone comes late.  I have no idea how they’re going to make it to the temple dedication.  We’ll see I guess.  We got one inactive, Rafael Sulín, and his daughter who’s not a member of the Church.  We’re going to baptize her.  They’re going to be powerful.
 

Wow, so the familia Herrera has been a hassle.  There are a lot of things going on.  Finally, Sunday, after months of trying to figure out what the problem was, we were talking to them, and then Irene had to go talk to her daughter, and Oscar told us in broken down English that the biggest problem was the money.  Because she had been married before, and her husband died, they had been getting 50 dollars every month in a pension.  Well, apparently they were planning for December when they were going to get a raise, but I told them I wouldn’t be there in December.  So we’re pushing for the last Saturday of this month.  If not, I don’t really know what we can do for them.

Okay, also, we had a baptism.  It was a miracle.  The last Sunday, the father of Daniel Marroquin, the branch president, told us that he wanted to get baptized this Saturday.  I was kind of surprised.  He has had so many problems with the laws and never really had a desire to be baptized, but I guess the temple changed that.  The temple has done miracles.  So on Saturday, he got to be baptized.  His family showed up about 30 minutes late (which is normal for them, haha).  I gave the first talk, on Jesus Christ, the atonement, and how that relates to baptism.  Then Angel, one of his sons, a return missionary who is way powerful, gave the second talk.  Then he started crying.  Then I looked at his family and they were all crying.  Then I looked at everyone else and they were all about to cry.  Man, I felt like I was going to need to mop the floor.  So then the president baptized his father, and wow, that was cool.  After the baptism they stood in the font and hugged for like a minute.  Latins are very touchy people, but it was actually pretty cool.  The spirit was so strong you could cut through it.  After, we usually sing hymns while we are waiting, but the spirit was so strong I had to wait.  It was like the temple.  I have not felt the spirit that strong in such a long time.  Then we sang, it was really cool, finished, it was sweet.

Really that was the coolest baptism I have ever seen in my life.  The dad is going to be such a powerful member.  After, we went to their house and had like a little testimony meeting thing in which he admitted that he had felt comfortable with his old way of life, but the temple changed things.  When people really understand our message...when they really understand that they can be sealed with their families forever, they really can’t say no.  It’s an awesome thing.  To be sealed forever.  It’s really real.
 
Well, I’m excited for this weekend.  This dedication is going to be so awesome.  I just feel really sad that the familia Herrera will not be able to be there.  Oh well.

So that’s all for now.